Chapter 55
After realising that the fierce ghost wasn't targeting them, the others all felt their hearts plummet —-
Oh no!
They quickly recovered from this shock and turned to rescue Ye Jia but just as they turned back, they were met with something completely unexpected.
The ground that had just been hit by the fierce ghost's hair was a mess.
But the young man who had been standing there only moments earlier had already been pulled away. A tall and handsome man was now standing behind him, his pale hand wrapped firmly around the young man's waist. The two were in an extremely intimate and ambiguous position.
As soon as they saw that, everyone was silent.
Ye Jia's mind had gone blank for a moment.
He looked down at the hand wrapped around his waist and then up at the players standing in front of him.
Everyone was staring at him in shock, their expressions all carrying the same dumbfounded look.
Ye Jia: "……"
Fuck……..
Behind them, the huge female ghost slowly twisted her pale neck and the numerous eyes on her face turned to look at the man who had suddenly appeared before her. Immediately afterwards, her body slowly sank down and she disappeared back into the ground.
Wu Su was the first to recover from the shock. He cleared his throat and felt that he should introduce them to each other, "Ahem, actually, this is the fierce ghost who is cooperating with the Bureau….."
"Cooperate?!" Blast was so shocked, he jumped up into the air, "Do you fucking know who this is?!"
Wei Yuechu seemed to be unable to control her expression. She stiffly turned to look at Wu Su and asked slowly, "So you're saying that….that internal spy you found who is cooperating with us…..is the Ghost King himself?"
Wu Su: "….."
He was stunned, "Huh?"
Ji Xuan lowered his eyes. The originally dark eyes of his had now turned scarlet, resembling flowing blood.
He raised the corners of his lips slightly, and his low voice carried a devil-may-care attitude, "That's great…."
The arm wrapped around the young man's waist tightened further, bringing him closer into his embrace.
The smile on Ji Xuan's lips deepened, "Looks like I won't need to introduce myself."
"?" Wu Su's expression was stiff.
He looked back and forth between the two groups of people in confusion, temporarily unable to digest the information.
Except for Wu Su, all the other players who had seen Ji Xuan in the game before had their vigilance up high. They stared at him hostilely with their weapons ready. A'Chang even arched its back slightly and got itself ready to fight.
Wei Yuechu said coldly, "What do you want?"
Ji Xuan smiled lightly, "Why are you all so nervous for? At least at this stage, our objectives are the same."
"Bah!" Blast cut him off and ordered arrogantly, "It doesn't matter what your purpose is, set that innocent hostage free first!"
Wei Yuechu: "……." This person really knows how to read the room.
The innocent hostage Ye Jia: "…….."
He took a deep breath and then patted Ji Xuan's hand, "Let me go."
Ji Xuan lowered his eyes and looked fixatedly at the young man in his arms. There were no other expressions on that man's pale face, no sorrow or joy. Just as everyone had their hearts in their throats, they saw Ji Xuan slowly loosening the arm that was wrapped around the other person's waist.
Everyone, "?"
Wait a minute. Why were things developing so differently compared to their expectations?
Just as everyone was still recovering from the shock, the ground suddenly started to shake. A huge eye stared creepily down at people below from above and the next moment, numerous cracks appeared on the ground. Soon, the ground started to disappear. All that was left was a dark abyss that seemed to be pulling them in.
"Ahhhhh!!" Wu Su who stood in the distance let out a scream as he fell.
Ye Jia's expression was cold. Just as he subconsciously wanted to summon his scythe, he felt a cold and slender hand grab his wrist.
He was taken aback for a moment and looked up.
Ji Xuan's handsome and bewitching face appeared very close to his face. That pair of deep and scarlet eyes seemed like it could draw people in.
His pale and thin lips opened and closed, and a low voice reached Ye Jia's ears through the noise around them "Don't…."
The next moment, Ji Xuan suddenly leaned forward and pressed his cold lips onto Ye Jia's. He bit lightly onto his lower lip, bringing about some pain.
Ye Jia's eyes widened in shock, "!"
Wha……?!
A strong force could then be felt. He felt Ji Xuan throw him up, the upward force counteracting the pulling force from the depths of the abyss.
Immediately afterwards, Ye Jia felt himself land heavily onto the ground. Because of how heavily he landed, he rolled across the ground several times.
"Hiss….."
Ye Jia sucked in a breath and then raised his head.
There was no seemingly endless darkness before him this time. Instead, it was a long and narrow corridor.
This corridor seemed to be a mixture of old and new. The dark green wallpaper seemed to be from several decades ago, the pattern on it blurred by dust and grime and the original colour of it only faintly visible. The dark red carpet on the ground also emitted an old and greasy smell. Although the overhead lights weren't very bright, they were stable and helped illuminate the seemingly endless corridor.
It seemed to be a completely different place compared to earlier.
But Ye Jia knew very well that even though the appearance may have changed, he was still in the ghost domain created by that S-Level fierce ghost from earlier.
— This should be a semi-manifested ghost domain.
The conditions to activate it is usually quite simple so it made it easy to catch people unaware, but it also meant that even if the fierce ghost was the master of this ghost domain, she couldn't do anything she wanted to and must similarly follow the rules of the domain.
That was a good thing for Ye Jia.
Ye Jia raised his hand and touched his lips.
A cold and soft sensation still lingered there.
Ye Jia's fingers trembled slightly. He withdrew from his messy thoughts and then slowly opened his mouth and took something out.
It was a slightly warm, light-green coloured stone that was triangular in shape and it also had an eye-shaped hole in the centre.
—– This was what the other party had put into his mouth using his tongue just now.
Ye Jia knitted his brows and carefully examined this stone.
He didn't remember seeing a prop like this in the game, but he recognised the shape.
The Omniscient Eye, also called God's Eye. It symbolised all-knowing and all-seeing, allowing one to see through fakes and lies.
Why did Ji Xuan give him this?
Also, what did that 'don't' mean? He didn't want him to directly confront that fierce ghost?
That fierce ghost's strength was at least lord level so it shouldn't be so unknown, but Ye Jia had no impression of this fierce ghost.
Moreover, he remembered that when he was first dragged into this ghost domain, he still had his scent disguised, but the other party had managed to instantly recognise him.
—- There was something off about this fierce ghost.
Ye Jia got up from the ground.
He wiped the stone clean using his shirt and then slowly advanced through the corridor.
The corridor was deadly silent with the thick carpet below him absorbing the sounds of his footsteps. It seemed like it would never end. Every few steps, he would encounter an old door, but none of them could be opened. It was like they were firmly embedded into the walls.
Please read this from kk translates
Ye Jia thought of something and then proceeded to take out the triangular stone.
He placed the pale green stone before his eye and looked through the eye-shaped hole in the middle.
As if a curtain had been lifted, the corridor before him was now completely different in appearance.
The original pale green wallpaper was dirty and mouldy and covered with dark sticky spots and blurry handprints that looked like dried blood from many years ago. As if a terrible massacre had occurred here, the carpet on the ground was also slashed into pieces by something sharp and scattered messily along the corridor along with rotten pieces of flesh and messy bloodstains. The lights above him were dull and dim, glowing weakly through the thick spider webs covering it.
There were no doors on either side of the walls.
After lowering the stone back down, Ye Jia's eyes darkened, and his brows tightly furrowed.
This didn't seem to be a ghost domain and instead seemed more like an……
Instance…..
Ye Jia walked along the corridor, taking the small stone out from time to time to look around. Very soon, he saw one of the doors similarly remain present when he looked through the stone.
He reached for the doorknob.
Unexpectedly, before he could even touch it, the door slowly opened on its own.
A large and spacious hall appeared before Ye Jia.
Dark green wallpapers, reddish-brown carpet and an overhead hanging light. In the middle of the hall was a long table used for banquets that was filled with shiny porcelain and glassware. There were a total of six seats with one at each end, and every one of the seats were empty.
Ye Jia raised the Omniscient Eye and looked through.
The walls were completely made up of long strands of dark hair. It silently contained the long table in the centre of the room.
There were indistinct figures sitting in each of the seats at the table as well as a door behind each of the seats. Ye Jia guessed that one of it was probably his, but Ji Xuan who had sudden appeared had taken his place.
He moved the Omniscient Eye to the seat at the head of the table and was a little surprised inside.
He saw a pale woman sitting there with her head down, her long black hair hanging loosely from her head, slowly squirming around and forming the ground and walls. She was completely motionless, as if she was deep asleep.
Ye Jia moved the stone away from his eye.
The seat at the head of the table was empty.
But since the two sides were connected, it meant that that fierce ghost must be sitting in that seat.
This semi-manifested ghost domain had the same binding effect on both outsiders and the master of the domain, but Ji Xuan's last-minute act of pushing Ye Jia out had actually helped push him outside of the rules of the game, giving him an extremely big advantage.
As long as this fierce ghost is killed, the ghost domain would naturally disappear, and everything would be resolved.
Ye Jia's finger twitched slightly, and a faint shape of his scythe slowly appeared. He narrowed his eyes slightly, the murderous intent evident in the depths of his amber coloured eyes.
He seemed to still be able to feel the other party's cold touch on his wrist.
He seemed to hear a soft and low voice speak next to his ear:
—— "Don't……"
Ye Jia stood in place, staring thoughtfully at the scene before him. He seemed to be seriously pondering over something.
Finally, after a long time, he slowly breathed out and looked away.
He will trust in him just this once.
Ye Jia worked his arms and let out a long sigh. A dark light flashed across his eyes that were half concealed by his eyelashes —- It had been a long time since he was in an instance. He didn't know if his skills had deteriorated.
He really missed it.
In that case, he should just think of it as a short walk through an instance.
He retracted the scythe and walked towards on of the doors behind the seats. After pushing one of it open, he promptly stepped in.
The door disappeared behind him.
Before him wasn't a room, but an entire world. With the sun shining brightly above his head, there were traffic on the roads around him and humans bustling around.
However, something didn't seem quite right.
Ye Jia reached out and grabbed the arm of one of the passers-by, but only felt the sleeve he grabbed hang loosely in his hand. He narrowed his eyes and pulled at the sleeve, causing the shirt to turn limp and countless colourful insects fly out from underneath.
Ye Jia threw away the shirt and carefully took in the world around him.
From the ground to the buildings to the pedestrians and the cars, they were all made of densely packed groups of insects of various colours. Those insects constantly moved around, making the entire world seem like it was covered in some sort of strange filter that constantly changed. With every step, the insects under him would be crushed, their bodies leaking out internal organs of various colours. It was particularly disgusting.
Ye Jia could guess whose room this belonged to.
He raised the Omniscient Eye and searched around this world of insects. Finally, his movements came to a stop.
In one of the buildings in the distance, there was a small glowing dot. It was particularly obvious amidst the sea of insects.
Ye Jia stored away the stone and ran in that direction.
It was a residential building that was almost completely in tatters both inside and outside. A scorched smell could be smelt in the distance. Numerous insects crawled out from all directions in a very orderly manner, slowly restoring the building into its original appearance.
Without a change to his expression, Ye Jia pushed open the door that was made up of insects and stepped in.
The further he went, the stronger that smell became and there were even burnt marks along the walls and floors. The corridor was crooked and slanted such that the third and second floors were almost integrated into one. The entire building seemed like it was slowly shrinking.
Following the stone's guidance, Ye Jia opened another one of the doors.
Just as he pushed it open, he heard a crash and numerous insects fell from the ceiling, smashing down onto the ground before him. The insects were all of different colours, allowing them to form the world, but the insects on the ground looked more like a giant pool of colour. It was quite a dazzling sight.
Ye Jia: "……….."
He remembered how Blast had responded to Wei Yuechu's question back at the Bureau.
His way of avoiding insects was to burn them with fire. Once they're gone, he would no longer be scared.
Please read this from kk translates
Very clearly, fire wasn't going to work on these insects here. Not only was it impossible for one to burn all the insects here, but if the fire happened to destroy the building's structure, the result would be the entire building collapsing, burying the people inside within the rubble.
It was very cruel.
Ye Jia bent down next to the pool of colour, rolled up his sleeve and reached in.
Through the pool of insects, he soon came into contact with a person's wrist.
Ye Jia held onto the edge and slowly lifted Blast out from the pool of insects.
The originally handsome and extremely arrogant man was at this moment in a very sorry state. His red hair hung down lifelessly and his entire being seemed to be on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Ye Jia considerately patted his face, "Hey, are you okay?"
Blast seemed to only now slowly return to his senses. His eyes moved around, moving from the pool of insects on the ground to the walls made up of insects, and he immediately shot up into the air as if his tail was set on fire, "AHHHH!"
He scrambled out of the pool and then held onto the door and began to vomit, "Bleurgh!!"
Ye Jia slowly looked away. He didn't have the heart to tell Blast that there were also insects wriggling about in what he vomited out.
After Blast basically emptied out everything that was in his stomach, he raised his pale face and finally noticed that the door he was supporting himself…..with felt a little soft!
He looked over—-
"Ahhhhh!!"
Tears flew out. Blast threw himself at Ye Jia in fear and clung tightly onto the only normal person present like a drowning man clinging tightly to a piece of driftwood. to stay afloat.
He hung from Ye Jia like a koala, "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Ye Jia: "…….."
So heavy….
So noisy…..
He took in a deep breath and enunciated each word clearly, "Calm. Down."
Blast continued to cling tightly onto Ye Jia, "N-n-no…."
Ye Jia almost couldn't breathe because of him.
He rolled his eyes and then proceeded to tear Blast off from him. After doing that, he grabbed the other person's jaw.
Blast only felt that the other person's strength was astonishing. Like an ice-cold clamp around his jaw, his head was slowly turned to the side, forcing him to look at the pool of insects from which he had just climbed out from.
The other person's voice was cold and ruthless, "Should I throw you in again?"
Blast: "!"
He suddenly felt like a small prey who was being targeted by a terrible predator. That sensation instantly won over his fear of insects, sending a chill down his spine. He didn't suspect the other person's words at all.
Blast immediately got off Ye Jia.
With his body finally freed, Ye Jia slowly let out a sigh of relief and looked over at Blast, "Can you walk properly?"
Blast swallowed nervously and gave a small nod.
He carefully took in the young man standing before him.
Light coloured hair and eyes, handsome face and pale skin.
It was clearly the same face but for some reason, it seemed to be completely different from before.
The harmless air from earlier had disappeared at some unknown point in time and replacing that was an extremely terrifying and aggressive air like those belonging to a large carnivorous beast. When his gaze swept over his body, it was much like a sharp blade that reflected a cold light, cutting through his flesh and blood. There had only been one person in the past who had given Blast this exact same feeling……..
While he was intently studying Ye Jia, the ground suddenly began to shake.
Those squirming insects on the ground jolted along with the shaking.
Blast's face paled. He subconsciously reached out to grab Ye Jia's sleeve.
Ye Jia narrowed his eyes and looked in a certain direction. He then grabbed Blast's wrist, "Let's go……."
As he said that, he dragged Blast who was still unable to return to his senses out the corridor and towards the streets outside.
Blast stumbled along behind him. With a green face, he would flinch in fright from time to time from the insects falling onto him, but he no longer screamed or threw himself at Ye Jia.
When the two managed to run outside, they saw the surrounding buildings collapse under an invisible force and the sea of insects rush in a certain direction.
Ye Jia's eye hardened slightly, and he looked up.
Perhaps because this world had become aware of the presence of an intruder, it seemed to be adjusting itself to counter that change.
They saw the dense group of insects gather into one gigantic insect that slowly crawled closer towards the two humans present. That terrifyingly large body could almost cover the entire sky, blocking out the sun. Small insects would fall from it from time to time, but more entered its body, allowing it to continue growing in size.
"Roar——-"
The giant insect opened its mouth and let out a deafening roar.
Blast was completely dumbfounded.
With a pale expression, he slowly swallowed and fine beads of cold sweat formed across his forehead.
Blast in the end still remembered that Ye Jia was just an ordinary person. He immediately stepped forward, shielding the other party.
A ball of fire appeared in his hand, but like its owner who had suffered quite a strong scare, it looked particularly lifeless and weak.
Blast steeled himself and stammered, "D-don't be afraid. L-let me take this……"
Before he could finish speaking, he felt a hand on his shoulder and then a force pulling him backwards.
The young man with amber eyes glanced lightly at Blast. There were no other expressions on his face and even his eyes contained a nonchalant look.
Those eyes seemed to be saying:
Just take a break.
The moment the two passed each other by, Blast saw something slowly appear in the young man's hand.
The next second, he saw it clearly. It was a crescent shaped scythe, its sharp blade reflecting a cold light. As if it contained the physical manifestation of moonlight, it seemed like it could cut you even just by looking at it.
Blast: "………"
His eyes slowly widened until it reached its limits.
Blast's expression went from dazed to shocked to disbelief and then it changed to white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. It was almost as if an entire colour palette had appeared on his face.
He gaped, unable to speak, and tremblingly raised his hand to point at the young man before him, "Y-y-y-you….You're…."
Ye Jia turned and glanced back at him with a look of amusement and a faint smile, "Oh, looks like I won't need to introduce myself."