After an Infinite Flow Player Retires

The sky outside gradually darkened.

In the bleak twilight, the abandoned building appeared even more desolate and haunting.

One of the combat personnel turned to look at Chen Qingye who stood at the back of the group all prim and proper, "This is the last one. How was it? Were you able to get used to today's work?"

Chen Qingye didn't answer.

He looked up at the abandoned building before him, seemingly in thought.

"What is the detector reporting?" That combat personnel asked.

Chen Qingye retracted his gaze and glanced at the detector hanging from his waist, "Very low….."

By now, they had already cleaned out the other two Yin Pits. The superior's worries were indeed correct. Following the rampage of monsters and ghosts, a large amount of yin energy had accumulated in these pits. Although it had not yet reached the level for the alarm systems in the detectors installed to go off, the high concentration of yin energy was enough to cause unusual changes which made their cleaning task more troublesome. It was however still at a level that they could manage.

More precisely, the concentration of yin energy in this last Yin Pit was the lowest of the three.

The expressions of the members of the Combat Division relaxed, "Let's go. We can go home after we're done with this place!"

Chen Qingye however calmly said, "Sorry senior, but I think something isn't right here."

The other party was stunned, "What's wrong? Did you notice something?"

Chen Qingye shook his head, "No…….."

He stuck his fingers under his sleeve and rubbed the heads of his insects in attempt to calm them down.

He lightly drew his brows together and appeared to be a little troubled, "But my babies seem to be showing a strong reaction."

The other members of the Combat Division all looked at each other. Finally, the leader spoke up, "I understand that you have some special skills, but if there is no actual evidence, we can't just put a stop to our mission, so besides your…..babies, do you have any other evidence supporting this thought of yours?"

Chen Qingye shook his head honestly, "Sorry, I don't."

In fact, even he himself didn't sense anything strange about this building but for some reason the gu insects he had raised seemed to be very restless. It was almost the same as this afternoon —–He clearly didn't sense anything strange about that logistics staff but A'Chang was very hostile towards him.

Did they have an upset stomach?

"Then let's go in." The leader said, "But everyone must be extremely vigilant. Always remember to ensure that you can communicate with the outside world."

Everyone nodded.

The small team headed towards the Yin Pit.

The abandoned building was very dark. The exposed concrete walls that were covered in messy graffiti and the rusty pipes made it appear very gloomy and strange.

Everyone cautiously walked on. From time to time, they would check the readings on the detector.

But as they went deeper, although the readings on the detector showed some increase, it was still within a normal range. They didn't encounter any abnormal changes caused by the yin energy the entire way, let alone any ghosts wandering around. Compared to the other two yin pits, this one was too normal.

The small team soon arrived at the centre of the building.

Chen Qingye spread open his hand but the gu insects didn't come out like it would normally to suck in the yin energy in the air and instead, they wrapped themselves tightly around his wrist, hissing at the darkness around them.

He frowned and raised his head to look at the other team members, about to say something, "Senior, I……

But before he could finish saying anything, one of them exclaimed, "Hurry and look at this!"

The metal door was covered in rust and the paint on the surface had almost all peeled off such that it was almost impossible for one to tell what its original colour was. The door was slightly ajar and the team member who had looked in just now looked particularly alarmed.

Chen Qingye retracted his hand and quickly went over. He looked at what the team member was pointing at.

Ahead of them was a large and spacious clearing that was filled with dust and rubble. In the depths of this empty site was a half-translucent pupa that was the size of a human floating in the air. The surface of it appeared especially soft with folds and creases circling around it and there seemed to be something slowly wriggling about underneath. The surrounding air that emitted a faint stench had a strange texture to it.

Chen Qingye was taken aback by the sight. Immediately afterwards, a fierce look flashed across his eyes, "Move away!"

As soon as he said that, the viscous glue-like membrane around the pupa suddenly started to move around with more intensity. In less than a blink of an eye, a large, gelatinous tentacle flew out!

The next second, the members of the Combat Division felt their vision turn black.

A black centipede had appeared in front of them, it's huge body almost filling the entire corridor. The dark shell shone a cold light as the numerous eyeballs on its body rolled around widely. It waved its huge mandibles, making clicking sounds, and then fiercely slammed itself against the tentacle that was charging over.

The entire building shook. Dust and debris fell from above, obscuring everyone's vision.

Chen Qingye shouted at the other team members, "Run!"

But it was too late. The moment it hit the centipede, that gelatinous tentacle seemed to have morphed into fluid, scattering into the air and spreading at a speed that was completely impossible to catch up, immediately encasing the entire building.

After everything was done, the scene before them had completely changed.

It was still an empty corridor of this building, but the beginning and ends of it were nowhere to be seen. The place where the pupa was originally floating in was once again an empty space and the air had become murky and dark, as if they were shrouded in thick smog. Looking out the window, the scenery outside was no longer the empty clearing from earlier and had instead become completely foggy such that one could no longer see their own fingers before them.

The leader's face was extremely pale. He took out his phone and checked —– No signal.

Even the radio communicator only let out noisy buzzing sounds. They were unable to contact the outside world.

Chen Qingye reached out and rubbed A'Chang's huge body. The expression on that plain face of his was particularly solemn.

A yin pupa…..

It takes an extremely large amount of yin energy for one to cultivate a yin pupa, so it had been placed here to absorb the yin energy that was continuously gathered in the Yin Pit. That was probably why the yin reading was much lower than the other two places.

Before they are fully matured, a yin pupa could not be detected by any detection devices. That glue-like membrane covering it could not only hide its presence, but it could also eliminate any humans who have discovered the yin pupa's existence.

Before the pupa hatches, there was no way of knowing what kind of monster was inside.

But once it hatches, things will grow out of control.

—–At the lowest, it could be B-level, and at the highest, it may even exceed S-level.

But now, this pupa was clearly on the verge of hatching.

Fortunately, what it had done right now was just producing an incomplete ghost domain.

Although it looked scary and the space seemed larger than before, as long as you returned the way you came earlier, you could still leave this place.

Chen Qingye turned to look at the other members of the Combat Division and said solemnly, "Senior, you'd better leave now. In order to protect the pupa, it will release yin energy to attract the surrounding ghost and monsters."

The team leader was a little anxious, "T-then what about you?"

Chen Qingye touched the hard shell next to him, "I'll see if I can find the pupa before it hatches."

The pupa couldn't be tracked. Only his gu insects may have a small possibility of being able to find it.

He said, "After you leave, hurry and contact the Combat Division and get them to come and take over."

The leader's face became even more pale, "Is it very serious?"

"Yes….." Chen Qingye nodded, "And I'm only in charge of tracking it down, I don't have any plans on fighting, so I hope the Combat Division seniors can arrive before I find the pupa. The situation may otherwise become more difficult to deal with after it hatches."

The other team members nodded in understanding and quickly ran back they way they came from.

The road ahead seemed long and distant, as if the end could never be reached.

The bleak corridor was extremely narrow. Only the patter of footsteps could be heard in the silence.

After making another turn, they found themselves running into a fierce ghost roaring and charging towards them.

"Get ready for battle!" The leader ordered.

Although this team of combat personnel were all newcomers, they had received extensive training. After a brief moment of panic, they quickly gathered themselves together and got ready to face the fierce ghost.

Amidst the roars, gunfire sounded. These noises echoed down the hazy and narrow corridor.

At this moment, one of them felt his neck itch.

He touched his neck.

But found his fingers coming into contact with strands of long, black hair.

Faint gurgling could be heard from above.

That team member slowly raised his head and looked up.

A female ghost on all fours hung upside down from the ceiling with her dark hair hanging down. She stared at him viciously with her pair of scarlet eyes.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Screams sounded one after another from the team members.

The leader quickly glanced back behind him.

He found himself faced with a particularly terrible scene —- A female ghost hanging from the ceiling, a skeleton climbing in through one of the windows along the corridor, a rotten corpse slowly emerging from the ground as well as the roaring fierce ghost he was currently dealing with.

Before they knew it, they were surrounded.

Chen Qingye's warning came true —- That strange pupa had attracted many fierce ghosts over.

Faced with attacks coming from all directions, they could only barely defend themselves, unable to proceed any further.

The leader was particularly anxious.

Chen Qingye had said earlier that his main task was to track down the pupa's location, not fight it.

But they were now in a difficult position, unable to leave this place and request for support —- It was like they were facing a dead end.

Suddenly, without warning, the skeleton climbing in through the window seemed to have sensed something. It immediately supported itself up and looked in a certain direction, a low growl sounding from the depths of its throat. The next moment, it turned back and disappeared into the fog outside.

The leader was surprised.

What was going on?

Before he could think of an answer, the next second, a huge figure appeared in the darkness not far ahead.

A pale, white skeleton approached. Its large mouth that was filled with sharp, jagged teeth bit down onto the roaring fierce ghost's leg, swallowing it whole.

That fierce ghost couldn't put up a fight at all.

That level of oppressiveness was overwhelming. He couldn't help but feel a chill run through him.

The leader's voice had become high pitched from the fear, "Retreat! Retreat!"

But that large monster didn't move to attack them. It instead pulled out the rotten corpse that was climbing out from the ground and proceeded to gobble it up.

The leader: "…….."

He slowly took in a deep breath and carefully looked over at the monster whose appearance could now be seen clearly.

Goat skull, empty eye sockets, skeleton body covered in blood and a fish tail.

Why….did it look familiar?

The leader then realised, "It's you!"

That strange fish that helped clean up those ghosts and monsters that night!

Since it has appeared, then…..

Before the leader could think any further than that, the female ghost above him let out a shrill cry. She glanced at the fish below fearfully and then quickly ran along the ceiling into the darkness ahead, as if doing that would allow her to escape from the blood gu fish swimming around below. Although her limbs were distorted and twisted, she crawled away extremely quickly and almost instantly disappeared into the dense fog.

"Swoosh——–"

Alongside the sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air, a bright flash of light flashed briefly in the darkness. Soon afterwards, that female ghost let out a scream and the corridor once again became quiet.

Footsteps approached.

A slender figure belonging to a young man slowly emerged from the darkness but to the others present, he was like a fire torch penetrating through the dark night. That invisible light and heat helped dissipate the cold and fear in them, giving them a sense of reassurance and safety.

The blood gu fish swum over and intimately rubbed against that young man.

The team leader's eyes lit up, "Great god! Great god, it's really you!"

The other team members behind him were also very excited. Everyone's eyes lit up like a 200-watt light bulb, "Great god, you've come!"

Ye Jia: "………."

Although he didn't know what happened but…..

It's a little blinding.

Ye Jia had recently been slaving away in the Logistics Department, completely unaware of the fact that he had become some kind of legendary existence in the hearts of the members of the Combat Division —- The kind of existence that would appear at the most critical times and then silently disappear without a trace. With the addition of the propaganda spread by those who had been rescued by him, he was almost about to become a living god that everyone worshiped before they set off on a mission.

Met with everyone's excited eyes, Ye Jia felt a little uncomfortable inside.

He coughed lightly, "Where is the monster?"

"One of our members is tracking it!"

The leader's words were a little incoherent due to his excitement. He nervously stretched out his hand, wanting to shake hands with Ye Jia but he quickly returned to senses and took it back. He cleared his throat and pretended to be calm, "W-we're currently on our way out to call for reinforcement!"

Please read this from kk translates

Ye Jia nodded.

Indeed, to track down a pupa that hasn't hatched, only Chen Qingye's gu insects could do it.

"After this matter is over, c-can we ask for an autograph?" One of the members asked eagerly.

The others nodded frantically beside him.

Ye Jia: "……….."

He responded uncertainly, "Sure?"

"Then we won't interrupt your work now!" The team members all had bright and shiny eyes, "We'll call for reinforcements now!"

Weirdos.

Ye Jia watched them disappear into the distance.

According to the information provided by Puppet Master, this pupa is an S-level fierce ghost and is due to hatch today. The reason why he only told them this news today was probably because he hoped that they would fail.

Ye Jia retracted his gaze and raised his eyes to look in a certain direction upstairs.

Although he also couldn't detect the location of the yin pupa, he could trace Chen Qingye's gu insects.

——He should be on the third floor right now, and he's still going up.

Fourth floor, fifth floor, sixth floor.

Chen Qingye suddenly stopped in place.

A'Chang next to him tapped twice and then used its long and thin legs to crawl towards the rooftop.

Chen Qingye hurriedly grabbed one of A'Chang's legs and whispered, "Wait a minute. Come back."

A'Chang turned back and stared at him with several of the eyes on its body before shrinking back to its smaller size and slithering back into Chen Qingye's sleeve.

Chen Qingye breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiao Bai was a female gu. This meant that as long as Xiao Bai was around, even if all his gu insects were fatally wounded and even if they were on the brink of death, they could still recover very quickly….But…..

Chen Qingye's expression darkened.

Ace.

That man was simply a devil incarnate!

H-he actually trampled his Xiao Bai to death!

Since that day, Chen Qingye has never dared to let his treasured gu insects participate in battle.

The reason why he wanted to join the Logistics Department was also because of this.

The Combat Division's work was too involved with the combative side of things. Although he alone should be able to handle it, but….perhaps one day, something unexpected would happen.  He didn't want to lose any more of his treasured babies.

Chen Qingye carefully opened the door and looked in.

The large pupa hovered in mid-air.

The outer membrane was now almost completely transparent, and you could see the winding blood vessels as well as the grotesque limbs squirming about inside.

Based on his experience, it probably would break out of that membrane in about ten minutes.

Chen Qingye lowered his head and stroked A'Chang's head in his sleeve. He was a little hesitant inside.

He didn't want to be involved in battle.

However, there were only ten minutes left….and he knew that support wouldn't come that quickly. If he left that pupa alone, the consequences would be unimaginable.

While Chen Qingye was feeling conflicted, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him, "Hey, let me take over now."

The young man's soft and gentle voice suddenly broke the silence in the corridor.

—- It was extremely familiar.

It was a voice that made his heart fill with anger whenever it appears in his dreams.

Chen Qingye's face distorted with anger, clear hatred gushing out from the depths of his eyes. He turned back and his eyes locked onto the hooded young man, "Ace!"

All the old and recent grudges erupted together.

Seventy or eighty colourful gu insects charged out from his sleeves, rushing towards Ye Jia!

Ye Jia avoided the gu insects chasing after him and said a little helplessly, "Now is not the time to talk about this….."

But Chen Qingye was already blinded by his anger. He shouted, "I want you to pay Xiao Bai's life with your life!"

More gu insects flew out from his sleeves, frantically attacking Ye Jia.

Please read this from kk translates

Ye Jia: "……."

Yes, again it was like this.

Every time he tried to talk to Red in the game, the situation would be like this. No matter what situation he was in or what crisis he was facing at the time, as long as Chen Qingye saw him, he would undoubtedly lash out at him, ignoring everything else.

Although every player had their own strange quirks, Red's was the worst among all the players he had interacted with.

Ye Jia sighed.

—-He had long grown used to it.

As he avoided the attacks, Ye Jia looked over at the half-open door.

The monster inside the pupa was moving around more violently, its thin limbs trying to pierce a hole in the thin membrane enveloping it. The already completely transparent pupa membrane had softened like a plastic bag, clinging tightly around the fierce ghost's body —- At most it would take another minute or two for it to break through.

There was no time to waste now.

Ye Jia promptly ducked down and cut through the heavy encirclement of gu insects using rather tricky angle and charged towards Chen Qingye.

Chen Qingye's pupils constricted, "!"

The other party's speed was too fast. Before he could even release A'Chang, he felt the other party's cold hand grip tightly around his wrist.

Oh no!

Seems like this time he would die in this person's hands just like how Xiao Bai did.

That thought flashed through Chen Qingye's mind.

But the next second, he felt the other person forcefully throw him off the rooftop!

Icy cold wind whizzed past his ears as Chen Qingye fell freely. He blinked a few times in confusion and then suddenly felt a weight under him —- A'Chang's body had grown larger again and it had wrapped around him to slow down his falling speed.

Before Chen Qingye could land safely, he felt a surge of hostile air erupt from the rooftop he was on moments ago.

In an instant, the wind and skies changed, and the world darkened.

—– The pupa membrane had been broken through.

Only S-level fierce ghosts would have such a terrifying birth ceremony.

And the first thing the other party did…..was to throw him out of the danger zone?

Why?

On the rooftop….

Ye Jia was waiting for this moment.

He summoned the blood gu fish.

The moment the pupa membrane broke, Ye Jia pulled out his scythe and slashed it at its weakest point.

Splash!

A large amount of viscous fluid poured out and a newly born S-level fierce ghost's grotesque figure also fell out.

"Now!" Ye Jia commanded.

The blood gu fish opened his mouth and immediately bit down onto the fierce ghost using its sharp teeth — The fierce ghost tried to struggle, but because it hadn't completely undergone the 'breaking through the pupa membrane' process, its skin was still soft and covered by a thin layer of the membrane and it still required four to five seconds to fully take shape. Facing the blood gu fish who had already experienced hundreds of battles, it couldn't put up any resistance at all and was immediately chewed and gobbled up.

The pupa membrane that had lost its host quickly shrunk.

Ye Jia knelt down and stored it in his pocket.

Downstairs………

The fog had all completely dissipated, but the concentration of yin energy in the air was still so strong, it made it hard to breathe.

Chen Qingye raised his head and looked up towards the rooftop, the reflection on his black-rimmed glasses making it difficult for one to see the look in his eyes.

He stood in place downstairs, seemingly thinking about something.

After a long time.

A young man's slender figure appeared from the darkness inside the building. He stepped out through the dusty air and walked straight towards Chen Qingye.

Chen Qingye's finger's reflexively twitched.

"Wait!" Ye Jia said, "Don't attack!"

Colourful gu insects circled around Chen Qingye's sleeves. For the first time, they didn't immediately charge towards the young man.

Ye Jia took in a deep breath and slowly approached Chen Qingye, "I'm really sorry about Xiao Bai."

He stretched out a hand and spread it open.

A white and tender bug wrapped in translucent gu membrane sat quietly in the centre of his palm.

Ye Jia said, "This is a mother gu larva. When it is cultivated from the pupa membrane of an S-level fierce ghost, it can once again grow into a mother gu — I know it can't replace Xiao Bai's place in your heart, but I hope it can make up for even a little bit of the hurt I have caused to you."

Chen Qingye's eyes widened.

He almost forgot to breathe.

Even in the game, mother gu larvae are extremely difficult to obtain, not to mention, to cultivate a mother gu, you would at least need the pupa membrane of a fierce ghost that is A-level or greater —-He had only managed to cultivate Xiao Bai after much hardship and after using up all his luck so no matter how much he wanted to cultivate another one, he was unable to achieve that same success a second time.

Especially now that the game had crashed, he thought all hopes of cultivating a mother gu insect was gone.

Yet now….now……

Chen Qingye's trembling hands reached out and received the larva from Ye Jia.

He held it cautiously in his hands like a treasure and very carefully examined it.

A long time later, Chen Qingye raised his head and looked at Ye Jia with tears in his eyes, "I want to call her Xiao Xiao Bai."

Ye Jia, "That's pretty good……."

Seeing Red's teary look, he slowly let out a breath.

He had finally put an end to this old grievance —- Although he had paid a big price for it.

After all, a mother gu larva….is really difficult to obtain.

Ye Jia didn't even want to think about it.

On the other end.

Ji Xuan narrowed his scarlet eyes as a faint smile lingered on his lips. He was clearly in a good mood.

He stared at the room before him with eyes filled with joy.

The originally empty room now contained a certain someone's personal belongings, giving the room life.

—- Finally.

Gege has agreed to move in.