When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 637: Over a Hundred Years

Chapter 637: Over a Hundred Years

Taking advantage of when the sun’s position was still high up in the sky, Shen Nianzu and Jin Jiuchi drove out of the city with the thin man—limbs bound and mouth sealed with tape, unconscious—in tow.

As the background scene of Sword of Heaven’s last moments revealed a desolate wasteland, Shen Nianzu reckoned it couldn’t have happened anywhere in the city center where most of the population was. It should have been an undeveloped piece of land, still untouched by human creation and technology.

Alas, going out to search just like this was just like a person groping around blindly in the dark. Not to mention, their time was very limited. A high-level Cycle’s scope was as vast as a continent, with only a small fraction of it being developed as the current land territory. Even with a hover car, it was quite an impossible task to pinpoint the location they sought within two or three hours.

Hence, Shen Nianzu thought of hiring a local guide and voilà, a suitable one just happened to drop onto their lap—quite literally.

They had just crossed the border of the city when a dark shadow suddenly leaped out of the rubble pile on the side and threw themselves straight at the car!

"Watch out!" Shen Nianzu cried out in alarm as the hover car automatically swerved to the side upon encountering a hurdle on the road. Although the vehicle’s anti collision system prevented the accident, his heart still beat frantically in shock.

"W-What was that? A... kid??" he squinted his eyes to get a closer look, and sure enough, he saw a scrawny kid with mop-like hair, dressed in a tattered clothes akin to a dirty rag, scrambling to his feet before spreading his arms in front of their car, not caring about the bloody scrapes on his face and knees.

"Are you alright, Nian’er?" Jin Jiuchi asked in concern. "Should we run him over?"

Shen Nianzu gave him a side-eye before observing the boy, who looked no more than ten due to his skinny frame. Despite his bold, death-seeking action of throwing himself to their car, Shen Nianzu keenly noticed that his entire body was tense, even trembling ever so slightly out of fear and anxiety.

It looked like the other party was also afraid they would run him over.

"Hmm..." Shen Nianzu rubbed his chin, contemplating. "Let’s bring him on board and ask him what he wants. Don’t act like a hooligan, do you hear me?" he warned Jin Jiuchi with a sharp glare, prompting the latter to grumble about the lack of basic trust between them.

The kid, who introduced himself as Piko, turned out to be a thirteen-year-old boy who lived outside the city border. He had stopped their hover car out of desperation, as he had not eaten anything in three days and felt like he was going to lose his mind out of hunger. He was as small as a thin, dirty kitten, curling up inside the spacious hover car, trembling in fear as he eyed the bound, unconscious man in the corner.

"P-Please... please don’t kill me! I beg you!" he beseeched in a raspy voice. "I-I will just leave if you want me to! I’m sorry I jumped in front of your car!"

He was only short of kowtowing and banging his head in front of these two ’kidnappers’.

Jin Jiuchi, ever the tease, put on a wicked smile on purpose, looking every bit like a bloodthirsty villain every mother warned their children about. "Oh no, who said you can leave now that you’re here? Nian’er, should we boil or serve him as sashimi—oww!" He covered the back of his head that had been smacked by Shen Nianzu, looking as aggrieved as a wronged wife. "Nian’er, that hurts! Your JJ has been hurt!"

Shen Nianzu rolled his eyes hard. Ignoring the drama king by his side, he faced the boy and swept the mop-like hair out of his face, asking, "You’re a siren?"

Once the tangled hair was out of the way, the boy’s delicate features were revealed, albeit rough and gaunt with years of hardship and starvation. Seeing the apparent fear in those huge, teary eyes, Shen Nianzu smiled softly, "What a coincidence, I am a siren too."

The fear in those eyes morphed to shock before settling on curiosity, his eyes never leaving Shen Nianzu’s face. Shen Nianzu allowed the boy to study him closely as he asked, "If you’re a siren, why are you here, so far away from the sea? Is there a body of water here somewhere?"

The knowledge that there was someone of his own kind here—someone who could keep that big scary human under control!—seemed to lower the boy’s guard in a flash. He clutched the hem of his tattered shirt, his expression turning bitter, "Body of water? How can there be anything like that in this wasteland? I’m lucky if I can find even a single insect out here!"

"Then you..." Shen Nianzu couldn’t hide the surprise on his face.

Without water, how did this siren survive until now?

Piko blinked, realizing the source of Shen Nianzu’s confusion. "My mother was a human. She married a half-siren and gave birth to me, so even though I was born a siren, my human blood ensured I could survive even if I didn’t return to the sea." He licked his dry and cracked lips, throwing a longing gaze at the water bottle peeking at the side.

At Shen Nianzu’s signaling glance, Jin Jiuchi fetched one and tossed it to the boy, who scrambled to catch it in a hurry.

"I-Is this for me?" he asked with a mix of hope, wariness, and desperation.

Shen Nianzu gestured at him with a smile, "Help yourself."

The boy hesitated no more, twisting the cap open and taking huge gulps down his throat. Shen Nianzu waited until he finished the entire bottle before asking, "Have you always lived here, Piko? Outside the border?"

"Yes, yes!" The boy’s face brightened up considerably with the water, even his voice was energetic as if he had been fully rejuvenated. "No one dares to claim they know the wasteland better than me! I’ve been wandering my whole life, after all!"

Although Piko looked proud and confident, Shen Nianzu did not hold much hope and simply asked in passing, "Then do you happen to know the area where the sky has split apart once?"

Contrary to his expectations, Piko’s expression showed surprise and enlightenment. "How can I not know about it? That disaster over a hundred years ago is the reason why our land is in the current state of disrepair! Of course, I have never seen it for myself, but I’ve heard my mother talk about it, which she heard from my grandmother..."

The boy continued to ramble on, while Shen Nianzu and Jin Jiuchi exchanged surprised glances—over a hundred years ago???