When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 454: Catch It!

Chapter 454: Catch It!

As soon as that booming voice thundered in the air, more and more eyes landed on Gu Luoxin, leaving the poor brown mouse trembling with confusion and fear. W–What was going on?! Why were they staring at him with such greedy and obsessive eyes?!

"Oh damn," Lucius muttered a curse for the very first time, but Gu Luoxin didn’t even have the luxury to marvel at it because in the next second, Lucius bit down on his body and took off running, treating him just like a dead mouse!

"Chase!" As if on cue, a crowd of men surged forward, determined to catch the small and dirty brown mouse which was Gu Luoxin.

"Ciit—!" a horrified squeak escaped Gu Luoxin as the world intensely spun before his eyes, his body jolting back and forth as if he was riding on a steep rollercoaster without a safety harness. To make matters worse, there was a horde of titans – no, NPCs – chasing after him!

"Help—" he almost puked out the bread and tomato he had just eaten, his stomach churning with nausea. "W–What is happening ciit?!"

Unfortunately, Lucius had his mouth full of a certain mouse and thus could not offer any response. Gu Luoxin could only watch with terror-stricken eyes as more people emerged from the streets to pursue them. It was as if the whole city had become their hunting ground. No matter how fast and agile Lucius was, he couldn’t possibly outmaneuver the enemies who besieged him from all sides.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Luoxin and Lucius found themselves cornered against the wall of a random house with five NPCs surrounding them, each wielding sharp weapons and nets.

Lucius spat Gu Luoxin out of his mouth and blurted out in a hurry, "Listen, when I open the path for you, quickly run to the underground sewer and hide there meow."

"N–No!" Gu Luoxin responded in reflex as he snapped his gaze to the black cat in disbelief. "How can I leave you alone ciit?!"

"There’s no time!" Lucius snapped at him, causing Gu Luoxin to hiccup into silence. A frustrated and irritated expression crossed the black cat’s features. "This is all Noir’s fault meow. You’d better give him a scratch or two if you meet him later."

Gu Luoxin’s eyes widened in shock. "What did Senior—"

He didn’t even have the chance to ask what Noir had to do with all of this when the first NPC made his move, intending to subdue the fierce black cat first. He took a step forward and raised the fork in his hand high.

In response, Lucius lowered his stance, growling menacingly, "Lousy creature, dare to touch me meow?"

Lucius brandished his sharp claws, ready to incapacitate the nearest NPC. But at that exact moment, Gu Luoxin watched in horror as black smoke – the familiar black smoke he had just witnessed the previous night – silently appeared and slithered itself around the NPC, just like a cold-blooded and venomous serpent. Last time it appeared, a living and breathing player was reduced into a glass slipper statue.

This time, too...

"NO—!" Gu Luoxin screeched in horror, desperately trying to stop Lucius, but he was a beat too late.

At the same time as Lucius lunged toward the NPC, the black smoke fiercely burrowed itself into the latter’s eyes, nose, ears and mouth, enveloping them in a malevolent shroud.

Lucius clawed at NPC’s face, intending to blind him and forcibly open a path for Gu Luoxin, yet under the influence of the sinister black smoke, the NPC surprisingly managed to dodge and retaliated with a panicked swing of their fork, striking Lucius with a forceful blow that sent him hurtling through the air!

Gu Luoxin felt his heart stop as he watched the trajectory of Lucius’ fall... which was right onto a nearby statue! If Lucius were to collide with the statue and smash it broken, then he... he would also...

Time seemed to crawl extraordinarily slow as he witnessed Lucius’ body soar through the air, his heart seeming as if it was about to burst from his chest.

But then, instead of crashing into the statue like he feared the most, Lucius executed a graceful somersault in midair and... landed unscathed atop of the statue!

"..."

A stunned hush fell over the scene as onlookers struggled to process the rapid turn of events. In the short span of seconds when Lucius’ body was flying, the black smoke had once again dissipated without a trace, leaving behind the bewildered NPC.

Until Lucius shouted urgently at him, "Run!!!" Only then did Gu Luoxin snap out of his daze. Lucius might have escaped from the siege of NPCs, but that left only Gu Luoxin alone standing in the eye of the storm!

With a startled squeak, he let his instinct take over as he darted between the legs of his pursuers, dodging grasping hands and evading capture at every turn.

"Catch it, hurry up!"

"Hit it first so it can’t run!"

"Don’t! We must capture it unharmed—!"

Perhaps the Goddess of Luck was taking mercy on him, or maybe this was Lucius’ buff, Gu Luoxin found himself recognizing the streets around him – he was not far from the underground sewer! Summoning every ounce of strength within him, he charged forward recklessly, headless of the chaos trailing behind him, and plunged himself into the narrow opening of the sewer!

"Damn it—!"

"The mouse escaped!"

The familiar pungent scent of sewage water and rotten garbage greeted Gu Luoxin’s nostrils, but never had he expected that he would feel this much relief upon smelling it again. Sensing that the NPCs could no longer reach him, Gu Luoxin finally allowed himself to collapse to the grimy ground, his chest heaving with exhaustion.

T–That was so fucking close!

Even now, his entire body was still trembling with the lingering effects of fear and adrenaline. When he imagined what would have happened if Lucius had shattered the statue and triggered the death condition, his heart shuddered in pain. But luckily... luckily they had narrowly averted the disaster!

While he was certain that Lucius could keep himself safe, now he was once again separated from the black cat! Oh God, what should he do now?! And what the hell had possessed the NPCs to such an aggressive state?!

"Xinxin...?"

A familiar voice called out to him from within the dark tunnel. "Xinxin, is that you ciit?!"

Gu Luoxin raised his eyelids wearily, finding Caen rushing toward him with concern etched on his features. "Ca... en..."

The one-eyed mouse hovered around him anxiously, checking for any signs of injuries. "W–What happened to you ciit? Are you hurt?! Is it because of those people out there?!"

Taking a deep breath, Gu Luoxin steadied himself and tremblingly rose to all fours. There was no use crying over split milk; now that he was separated from Lucius, he couldn’t allow himself to stay idle. He still had no idea where that sinister black smoke originated from, but one thing for sure— its appearance would manipulate players into breaking the glass statue, thus triggering the death condition. Most importantly, it seemed like he was the only one who could see it.

He had to do whatever he could so that the accident today would never repeat again!

Today, Lucius could still dodge the death trigger, but what about tomorrow? Would Gu Luoxin continue to hide behind his shadow and seek his protection?

A surge of blazing determination burned in his eyes as he turned to Caen, asking, "I–I was chased by a group of people just now. Do you know what happened ciit?"

The one who answered him, however, was not Caen but a group of mice who came out after hearing the commotion. "Xinxin, it’s such a relief that you managed to make it back ciit!"

"Humans are so despicable!"

"I overheard the other mice saying that they started capturing mice because of the order from above!"

"We must not go out! If we stay here, they won’t be able to catch us ciit!"

Gu Luoxin was stunned, his mind trying to process the information he had just heard. Order from... above? Pairing it with the words Lucius had told him earlier, the one who started it all should be... Noir, the Prince?!