When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 491: Golden Time

Chapter 491: Golden Time

As Gu Luoxin grappled with a thick sense of disbelief, he heard Jin Jiuchi chime in beside him, his tone extremely casual, "Oh, she’s here too."

"Of course," Shen Nianzu replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "This Cycle is open to all players, so it’s natural for us to bump into her."

Still wide-eyed, Gu Luoxin whipped his head toward his teammates. "You... You guys know each other?!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Uh, no?" Jin Jiuchi tilted his head, humming thoughtfully. "I wouldn’t say ’know’... oh, she’s looking in our direction! Should we say hi, Nian’er?" No sooner than he said those words, the little girl – Qian Hui – abruptly turned her back on them, her tense posture radiating a clear ’don’t talk, don’t approach me’ aura. If not because they were required to be on standby in front of their buses, she might have even run away just to put as much distance between them as possible.

Gu Luoxin narrowed his eyes at Jin Jiuchi, suspicion evident in his expression. "What have you done to her, Da Shen?"

"M–Me?!" Baffled, Jin Jiuchi pointed at his own nose, offended at the baseless accusation. "I did nothing! She’s the one who—"

"Ahem!" Shen Nianzu cleared his throat loudly to prevent Jin Jiuchi from blurting out anything he wasn’t supposed to say in the middle of the crowd. They wouldn’t know who might be listening in at the moment. "Just say that... thanks to her skill level, she’s able to see through Da Shen’s real nature." His pale purple eyes glimmered with amusement as he explained.

Gu Luoxin let out a soft ’ah’ of realization. No wonder... if he hadn’t been with Jin Jiuchi all throughout the man’s first Cycle until now and witnessed all of his dorky shenanigans, he, too, would have been terrified out of his wits upon discovering that a nightmare creature had somehow infiltrated the Earth and mixed into the group of human players. After all, it was a nightmare creature they were talking about – their number one enemy in the Nightmare Cycle!

It was perfectly understandable for her to be on her guard. Perhaps the fact that she hadn’t openly shown her hostility and engaged Jin Jiuchi in a life-and-death battle was already solid proof that she tolerated his presence somewhat.

Though this came as a huge surprise for him. He had of course heard various rumors about the Harbinger of Doom, but who could have guessed that she would really be a child?

"Umm..." he sidled closer to Shen Nianzu and lowered his voice into a hushed whisper, "Is that really... her actual age? She is not using a prop to change her age like you do?"

"Indeed," Shen Nianzu responded with a solemn smile. "Unlike me, she’s just a little girl."

A surprised gasp escaped Gu Luoxin. S–So young! She was practically still a child! And yet, she was the one who sat at the top of the leaderboard, and just the mere mention of her name was enough to invoke fear and admiration.

"I thought that this would be a relatively easy Cycle, but damn... how are we supposed to survive with her around?!" a nearby player lamented.

Another echoed their support, "That’s right, there’s no way we can win against a Legendary player!"

"This is an extremely unfair battle! Shouldn’t they put a limit on her power?"

"I heard that in every Cycle she was in, she always wound up as the sole survivor..."

"Gasp! Are you saying that she’s eliminated all the others?!"

Doubt, fear, wariness, skepticism— surrounded by players who regarded her in such a manner, Gu Luoxin couldn’t help but feel like she was akin to a little white rabbit in the midst of a group of tigers. But before any trace of sympathy could emerge in his heart, he hastily slapped himself on the cheeks.

Snap back to your senses, Gu Luoxin! Who are you to pity her? She’s waaay more powerful than you could ever be! Don’t underestimate her just because of her age!

Before Gu Luoxin could continue to ask his teammates about how she came to discover Jin Jiuchi’s identity, a familiar hearty laughter reverberated in the air, sounding like it had been amplified by a megaphone. "Ohoho, Merry Christmas, everyone! Are you ready to play this fun game with me?"

In front of them, hovering in midair, appeared a gigantic hologram figure of the bus officer, capturing everyone’s attention. The hushed chatter and murmurs across the field simmered down into silence as all eyes were fixed on him.

The bus officer beamed brightly as he addressed the crowd. "Allow me to give you a brief overview of the game. As you can see," he gestured at the parked helicopters, "you will be heading to the Suicide Forest on those. Be extra careful in choosing your landing spot, as you never know what’s waiting for you down below!"

The players gulped in nervousness, which only seemed to widen the officer’s smile.

"Now, there are a few important announcements I’d like to make," he elaborated cheerfully. "Firstly, all skill cards and props will be disabled for the first hour, with the countdown starting from the first child who jumped down from the helicopter!"

He suddenly lowered his voice to whisper, "One little advice from me: jump as soon as possible before the hour is up and quickly secure the first round of available resources! You wouldn’t want to be sniped in midair, would you? Oh, imagine the shower of blood from a body that exploded in midair..." he clasped his hands in malicious excitement. "How beautiful!"

As soon as he said that, murmurs and discussions erupted throughout the field. Some people panicked, while some rejoiced in the opportunity presented by this arrangement.

"Well, it’s not as if I’d never seen this coming," Shen Nianzu commented with a sigh. "Though I have to admit, his method is really insidious. He said that it’s advice, but in reality, he’s pitting us against each other even before we board the helicopter."

With this warning from the officer, players would undoubtedly be on high alert for fear that they would be killed before they could even get their hands on the revival potions. Some might even start a killing spree to reduce the number of rivals.

With all skill cards and props disabled, the first hour was the golden time to get rid of players with powerful skill cards. It was the one and only opportunity for the weak to band together and devour the strong.

That’s right, a strong player such as... Qian Hui.

"Don’t worry, Nian’er. I will protect you!" Jin Jiuchi patted his chest with a determined harrumph. Meanwhile, Gu Luoxin shuddered at the mental image of a dead, mangled body being carried by the parachute.

Having stirred up the reactions he wanted, the bus officer moved on to the next topic, "Now look at these!"

Three black metal boxes popped up beside him with three different colored buttons – red, green, and black.

"These are the supply boxes scattered throughout the forest, and also the ones we will drop on hourly intervals from the helicopters," he explained. "Red is for potions, weapons, or ammunition. Green is for food, water, or medicine. As for the black..." he paused, a glint of mischief dancing in his murky eyes.

"Oh well, where’s the fun if I reveal everything directly? Please find out about it yourself! Have you memorized them all, my dear children?"