Chapter 117: The Human Skin Drum (21)

But the absurdity went far beyond that.

The fat man was not dead either.

He remained standing in place, looking foolish, his hand still clutched in the position of holding the explosives. He stared blankly at the crowd around him, his expression dull and bewildered, the very picture of a simpleton who had no idea what had just transpired.

It wasn't until everyone grew tired of holding their poses and began to move that the fat man finally realized he hadn't descended into hell, but was still among the living.

"What on earth? The explosive pack I spent over a million points on—was it a fake?"

"The explosives you bought weren't fake," Qiao Yuan said. "I used Time Reversal."

Time Reversal was not a Grade A prop, but it was a non-purchasable item. It had to be won through the prize roulette, and it was categorized as a B+ prop. With luck, one might snag it for 100 points. If luck was poor, however, one might spend tens of millions of points and still never see it.

The true strength of this prop lay in its ability to not only wind back a player's time by one day but also to reset the status of the points in their inventory to what it had been a day ago.

In other words, the fat man’s current inventory still held a full million points!

"I didn't have to save you. But since you have survived, this is a soul contract you must abide by."

A document shimmering with bright yellow runes of various kinds hovered before the fat man’s eyes.

"..."

The fat man finished reading the contract, and he immediately blew his top. "You saved me, and you want a million points? Why don't you just go rob someone?"

Just as the fat man was about to continue his tirade, his full name was already being inscribed onto the contract by a phantom quill.

Yu Peng.

That was the fat man's name.

And at the bottom of the contract, Qiao Yuan had added: Yu Peng automatically agrees to withdraw from his original association and join A-Yu’s new association. Any violation will result in the annihilation of his soul.

Yu Peng, "..."

—

In the distance, the beautiful woman, whose face was now twisted in a sinister expression, wore a look of madness.

"How detestable!" With a wave of her hand, the scene in the village shifted once more. "How can I, who forged this purgatory with my own hands, tolerate these small-time wretches肆意 (running wild) and destroying it? They treat me with malice, so why should I repay them with songs? I want every sinful soul in this village to sink into hell forever! To never find release!"

As the woman shrieked hoarsely, the mutants inside the inn that Tang Mu was in seemed to receive a tenfold infusion of energy. With a *whoosh*, their bodies ballooned to ten times their original size.

In particular, the man-eating iron flowers that had been wreaking havoc on the fourth floor and the water-sac monster on the third floor seemed to have been suddenly endowed with soul and consciousness. They instantly found their way out of the corridors and lunged toward the players.

The players, having just been resurrected, were no longer infected by the "green fungal powder." But after living and dying and living again, their minds were muddled and hazy. By the time they realized the monsters were attacking, the mutants were already right upon them.

"Don't hurt him!" Zhu Ya'an shouted loudly even as the water-sac monster charged into the crowd. "He is Qi Yangbo! He is my boyfriend, you cannot—"

"Zhu Ya'an, wake up! He is no longer Qi Yangbo!" He wasn't even an NPC anymore. He was just a monster whose consciousness had been usurped! He wasn't human at all!

But Zhu Ya'an wouldn't listen to anything. She continued to block others from attacking the water-sac monster. "No! He remembers me. His gentleness, his smile, it feels as if it were only yesterday... He must remember me..."

Suddenly, as if recalling something, Zhu Ya'an stared directly at Tang Mu. "Tang Mu! Didn't your boyfriend disappear too? If the water monster standing before you today were Yan Xingwen, what would you do? Would you turn your sword against him too?"

Ah.

That was truly a good question.

If the monster before her were Yan Xingwen, she would indeed have to think long and hard about it.

But unfortunately, the water-sac monster before her was not Yan Xingwen.

Therefore, Tang Mu did not hesitate for a second. "I would kill him, of course. Because even if he dies in this dungeon, he can still be an NPC in the next one."

"You’re full of it! You just think that the person before you isn't your Yan Xingwen, so you don't care whether he lives or dies!"

Just as Zhu Ya'an was desperately making excuses for Qi Yangbo, the water-sac monster’s tentacles had already silently climbed onto her wrists and ankles. It would only take one final move to lock her down completely.

"Zhu Ya'an! Wake up! The water-sac monster behind you is already hunting you! If you don't fight back, you will die!"

How could Zhu Ya'an not know when the tentacles touched her wrists and ankles? But she preferred to deceive herself rather than lift a finger against the monster, and so, to everyone's shock, she lowered her weapon.

"If it really wants to kill me... then Qi Yangbo's soul must be gone. Since my beloved is already gone, what is the point of me living?"

"Zhu Ya'an!" It was Qiao Yuan who roared with fury now.

He glared at her, frustrated by her lack of resolve. "The association spent quite a lot of resources training the two of you. Without my permission, who allowed you to just give up on yourself?"

"I'm sorry." Although her face was full of sorrow, Zhu Ya'an was resolute. "Actually, I should have died long ago. If he hadn't saved me, I wouldn't have lived until today."

"Now is the only chance to test if his soul is still there. If this water-sac monster is him, he would not, and could not bear to, hurt me. But if he has already..."

While Zhu Ya'an was still rambling, the water-sac monster's tentacles tightened around her wrists and ankles with a swift *snap*. Then, one of the thickest tentacles thrust into her heart without a moment's hesitation!

At the moment her life force faded, there was no regret in Zhu Ya'an's expression, only an inevitable sadness.

She even remembered: in the 30 seconds before Qi Yangbo mutated into the water-sac monster, how he had desperately pushed her out of the room to avoid hurting her, and locked the door behind him. He hadn't even left her a chance to say goodbye.

And all the things from the past...

When she sprained her ankle, Qi Yangbo would ache for her, rub her leg, and carry her for miles and miles, as far as the end of the world.

When she had a fever, Qi Yangbo would bustle about... if her mouth tasted bitter, he would feed her honey himself. When she was afraid of injections, Qi Yangbo would coax her gently, saying, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid."

But all of this, every bit of it, shattered the second the water-sac monster's tentacle pierced her chest.

She was almost using her own life to prove that the man who had once loved her with all he had... no longer existed in this world.

Yet he had promised that as soon as they cleared this dungeon, he would take her to pick out a wedding ring. Because they had saved enough money, including the deed to leave the slums, the child's future education fees... as long as they saved one last sum, they would never have to live a life of licking blood off a blade again.

What a pity.

Just before the moment she looked forward to becoming a bride, everything, like the brilliant explosion of fireworks, turned into nothingness in an instant.