When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 519: Stop Right There!

Chapter 519: Stop Right There!

Noir eyed Jin Jiuchi warily.

Somehow, compared to the man’s earlier murderous glower and threatening posture, the current Jin Jiuchi with his pupils fully dilated and eyes all sparkling and glittering sparked a deeper hint of unease within Noir. The way Jin Jiuchi looked at him now was like how a starving wolf would crouch and lie in wait within the shadows while salivating over a piece of fragrant meat.

It was the unsettling realization that he was being perceived as a prey by this man— whatever creature he was.

His hackles instinctively raised, his muscles pulled taut, and the shade of his green eyes grew a notch deeper until they swirled in a near obsidian color, just like the verdant forest entrenched in inky darkness. His entire body was using all these subconscious reactions to warn him about how dangerous the person before him was.

The two’s gazes clashed in midair, and invisible sparks flew out.

"Hmm?" Jin Jiuchi made a questioning sound in his throat as he sniffed the air, a meaningful gleam flickering in his heterochromatic eyes.

The disquieting moment only lasted for a brief period, however, when Shen Nianzu whacked the back of Jin Jiuchi’s head, thus breaking their prolonged eye contact.

"Don’t go on your hunting mode here, idiot!" the jade doll hissed angrily.

"Ouch, ouch!" Jin Jiuchi covered his head with both arms, feeling utterly wronged, "What did I do?!"

"Senior, are you feeling okay?!" Gu Luoxin hovered around Noir worriedly, wanting to get closer but lacking the courage to. He hastened to offer a few comforting words, "Don’t take it to heart. Da Shen is always like this. He’s an utter glutton who wants to eat everything he lays his eyes on regardless of whether they’re edible or not!"

"Hey!" Jin Jiuchi cried out, affronted. "You’re talking bad about me right in front of my face?!"

Gu Luoxin stuck out his tongue in response, taunting. "Yes, I am. So what?"

The stagnant atmosphere instantly eased thanks to Shen Nianzu and Gu Luoxin’s timely intervention. With a long exhale, Noir pinched his brow and closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, his countenance had returned to normal and so was the color of his pupils.

"Keep dreaming," he sneered as he casually tossed a small branch into the fire. "Even if I have more food, I won’t share it with you."

"You—!" Jin Jiuchi rolled up his sleeves angrily, ready to have it out with this obnoxious man whose five elements clashed with him like how oil and water could never mix. However, upon seeing Noir arched his brow in a provoking manner, seemingly to say ’what can you do to me?’, Jin Jiuchi was abruptly reminded how this man was a food attracting magnet, and his entire person deflated in an instant like a punctured balloon.

Baring his teeth, he threatened, "Don’t think I will not hit you!"

Noir spread his hands leisurely. "Be my guest."

Huffing and puffing, Jin Jiuchi whipped his head to the jade doll who was content being a spectator to the bickering show. "Nian’er, he’s so annoying!" he pointed right at Noir’s nose. "He and Xinxin are the same. They’re a match made in Heaven!"

"W–Wha—" Gu Luoxin abruptly choked on his saliva, coughing until his entire face turned beet red like a tomato. "W–What kind of nonsense are you blabbering on?!" A–A match made in Heaven? He and Noir?!! Geez, did Jin Jiuchi even know the true meaning of those words?!

He stole a timid glance at Noir, fearing that the man would be annoyed or bothered by Jin Jiuchi’s nonsense, but Noir’s expression was as flat and unruffled as ever, rendering Gu Luoxin unable to guess what was running through his mind.

Shen Nianzu, on the other hand, simply patted Jin Jiuchi’s arm like he was placating a child throwing random tantrums. "Yes, yes, I will buy you food after we get out of this Cycle later. Anything and as much as you want."

Jin Jiuchi was immediately appeased by that promise and began to make a list of the food he wanted to eat, with the topmost being sausages.

After taking a brief rest, the SJG trio and Noir extinguished the fire before walking through the forest once more. Partly out of fear that they would encounter another Red Zone, and the other part was because they wanted to find a more suitable location to settle for the night, preferably one which was easy to defend and hard to attack.

Thanks to the combined effort of Jin Jiuchi’s heaven-defying nose and Noir’s enviable luck, they managed to stumble upon several more supply boxes scattered throughout the area – much to Jin Jiuchi’s disappointment.

As the night progressed, the four of them were rich with ration, weapons, and ammunition. Therefore, Shen Nianzu decisively declared that they would shift their priority to hunt for the black supply boxes instead of the green and red ones.

It was time for them to meet the real challenge.

However, before they could locate either a black box or a suitable resting area, Jin Jiuchi abruptly halted on his tracks, causing Gu Luoxin and Noir to pause as well.

"Sssh..." he placed his finger on his lips, his heterochromatic eyes glowing in a haunting way that couldn’t possibly be human. He asked in a low voice, his ears twitching, "Did you hear that?"

Hear what? The same question crossed the three other’s minds. They subconsciously slowed their breaths and strained their ears to listen, only to catch some dubious sound of... suppressed breathing as well as delicate moaning and groaning???

"Damn, aren’t they wild and kinky?!" Jin Jiuchi whispered in a hush excitement while wiggling his brows teasingly at Shen Nianzu, who shot him a sharp glare in response. As for the other two, Noir’s eyelids simply gave a twitch, while Gu Luoxin’s mouth hung open so wide that a goose egg could be stuffed inside, his eyes blinking in sheer disbelief and bafflement.

No way?? This was a Cycle – a dangerous Cycle where they could encounter Red Zone or other players at any moment! And yet some people still dared to...

His face flushed red when the lewd sounds intensified, followed by the relentless echo of flesh slapping against flesh which sounded crystal clear amidst the silence. One only needed to hear to know that the two must be entwined at the height of passion. Although Gu Luoxin had devoured countless manhwas with mature content and even considered them an absolute stress-reliever during exam period, this was the first time he had heard of people doing it live – in the middle of the suicide forest, no less!

His heartbeat quickened in pace, and his toes nearly dug into the ground in embarrassment, so much that he dared not even raise his head to meet anyone’s eyes.

"Let’s just go," Shen Nianzu stated in a whisper, not interested in finding out who they were. No matter how perverted their preferences or fetishes were, it had nothing to do with him anyway.

Gu Luoxin nodded vigorously and took the lead to bolt ahead. "L-L-Let— woah!"

Alas, the entire universe seemed intent on tripping him up – quite literally – because he failed to notice a thick vine snaking across the ground in front of him. His foot caught on it, and in a moment of pure panic, his entire body tilted forward.

Alarmed, Gu Luoxin instinctively flailed his arms around for purchase, only to grab ahold of the hem of Shen Nianzu’s sleeve. Fully unprepared, Shen Nianzu’s small body was yanked along with a startled yelp, and Jin Jiuchi reacted swiftly to catch him in midair.

"Nian’er!"

What followed could only be described as a chaotic comedy of errors. The three of them tumbled to the ground like toppled dominoes, each landing in a heap atop the other. A flurry of limbs, dust, and muffled groans disrupted the tranquil forest akin to a large boulder splashing into a serene lake.

"Ahhh, ouch! My hand!!" Gu Luoxin’s cries of pain mingled with Shen Nianzu’s irate curse, "Get off me, you damned husky!"

Noir stood still, his expression blank. "..."

It went without saying that the intimate couple discovered their presence in a heartbeat. A woman’s startled cry rang out, followed by chaotic rustles of clothing and a man’s voice pleading, "Wait, wait, baby! Don’t bail out on me—"

Slap!

"Get lost!" The woman seethed in a mixture of rage and mortification.

Amidst the chaos, the SJG trio exchanged glances with each other and attempted to slip away. But alas, their sneaky efforts went down the drain when the man barked out in a fierce tone, "Stop right there!"

Shen Nianzu scoffed upon hearing that. Of course, they wouldn’t stop— who in their right mind would? He signaled for everyone to rush forward, but the man’s next words successfully halted them in their tracks,

"Should I call you out one by one— Nian, JJ, and Xinxin from SJG? And oh, Noir as well?"

Each word spoken struck the four of them like a thunderclap, leaving them utterly stunned.

Shock and horror washed over Gu Luoxin. "How does he guess our identities?!"

No, Shen Nianzu’s expression turned grim. It wasn’t something as simple as ’guessing’. The other person had listed each of their names, even Noir, with such unerring precision as if... as if he had known it would be them all along. At such a juncture, it was useless trying to escape. With a slow exhale, Shen Nianzu stood up and dusted the soil off his clothes, his sharp gaze narrowing on the man’s faint silhouette which was steadily approaching through the darkness.

"Who are you?" he asked without beating around the bush.

"Who am I?" came the man’s amused reply. "Isn’t it you who has been searching for me, Nian, leader of SJG?"

Shen Nianzu’s pupils constricted sharply. How did the man figure out he was Nian when he was currently disguised as a child? He was a hundred percent certain he had never heard this voice before, which meant the two of them had never crossed paths!

Not to mention, the person he had been searching for all this time... it could only be—

"XXX... the Divine Oracle?" Shen Nianzu blurted out in surprise.