Chapter 464: Fallen Abyss

Dazzling rays of light descended upon the sky.

The clear blue sky seemed almost unreal.

Inside the city, tall buildings rose up like trees in a forest and the streets were akin to the lines on a chessboard.

Pedestrians rushed about across the streets and various noises could be heard. The sound of car engines, the bustling of the crowd…

Chen Xiaolian stood beside the street and observed the scenery before him. After a while, he recollected himself and quickly turned around.

Behind him, the cave opening had disappeared. It was as though he had been standing right here at the corner of this city street right from the beginning.

Everything seemed familiar.

This was the city that he had grown up in.

The distance between this street and his school, or even his home, was quite short.

The bookstore right across his position was a place he frequented. The same was true of the cinema on the street. Every time there was a superhero movie, he would go there to watch the movie.

There was also the noodle shop and the dessert shop…

This was the commercial area near his place of residence.

He stood at the junction of the street. Suddenly the red traffic light turned green and a large wave of people moved toward him. The endless stream of people moved forward, ignoring Chen Xiaolian, who stayed there in the middle.

One of the pedestrian bumped into Chen Xiaolian’s shoulder, but Chen Xiaolian did not react to it at all. The pedestrian however, raised his head, revealing indignation and resentment.

The next instant, this pedestrian quickly pulled out a knife from his bosom and stabbed Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian was stunned.

However, he did not lose his body reflexes. In the face of this attack… … back in the base’s training room, he had trained himself day and night, fighting against the Demon Soldiers until his body adopted combat reflexes.

The Sword in the Stone swung out, casually cutting off the other fellow’s knife… … the sharp Sword in the Stone continued moving forward, drawing an arc across the other fellow’s neck.

Puchi!

Blood sprayed out and the pedestrian fell to the ground. Even as he was dying, he gnashed his teeth as he glared at Chen Xiaolian, his eyes revealing a beast like visage of hatred and hostility.

Chen Xiaolian was stunned.

On one end, he was stunned by his own actions… … on the other end… … just because they bumped each other on the street, the guy pulled out a knife on him?

As for the other pedestrians, they appeared ignorant toward what happened earlier. They simply minded their own business and walked away.

It was then that Chen Xiaolian suddenly noticed it… … up in the sky, on the seemingly unreal, clear blue sky was a row of texts.

“Acquired demon points: 1. Current status: 1/999.”

This… … what is this?

Demon points?

What the Hell is that?

Chen Xiaolian immediately recalled the system prompt: The activation of the magic array requires undergoing a trial from the forces of darkness. Complete the trial to acquire the power of darkness needed to activate the magic array. Only after the power of darkness has reached the critical point will the magic array will be activated

Could these demon points be the power of darkness?

Chen Xiaolian’s eyes widened.

Killing off a pedestrian… … will give one demon point?

This is something obtained by killing?

He suddenly turned around and looked at the endless stream of pedestrians moving about…

At that moment, a stir broke out at the other end of the street, luring Chen Xiaolian’s attention. He turned his gaze toward the commotion…

Some place around 20 metres away from him, a man and a woman were quarrelling furiously. It seemed as though one of them had stepped on the other’s foot.

In less than a few seconds, the man seemingly went mad. His hands shot out toward the woman’s neck and began choking her. The woman, on the other hand, howled out like a wild beast, her fingers digging viciously into the man’s eyes.

The two of them fought like animals. Due to the pain, the man released his grip on the woman’s neck. The woman took advantage of this opportunity to pounce on the man. She opened up her mouth, bit down on the man’s cheek and tore off a large chunk of flesh.

Too barbaric! Too bloody! Too… … insane!

Likewise, the pedestrians appeared indifferent to what was happening. They continued walking off, occupied with their own matters.

At that moment however, the two of them had fallen to the ground and were tussling with each other as they rolled around, accidentally tripping another pedestrian. This third pedestrian roared in rage and entered the fray. It was now a three-way free-for-all… the woman bit off the first man’s throat, leaving him on the ground, dying. However, the third pedestrian instantly grabbed hold of the woman’s hair and slammed her to the ground. Next, he stabbed a knife through her throat from the back.

Chen Xiaolian was left dumbfounded.

This… this is madness!

It was as though the pedestrians here were all mad men. The moment a disagreement occurred, an insane level of indignation and grudge would erupt, one that was followed by a need to see the other party dead.

This was not the normal world.

Chen Xiaolian subconsciously took a few steps back. In doing so, he accidentally stepped into the street. A car came barrelling over, but Chen Xiaolian was quick to react. He ducked to the side. However, the car skidded to a halt and its driver stepped out. With a mask of fury on his face, the driver charged toward Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian frowned. He casually grabbed the driver up and tossed him far away. As it so happened, the driver fell into the middle of a crowd, causing a large number of those within the crowd to fall down.

A few seconds later, those pedestrians got up. With animal like expressions, they charged Chen Xiaolian with an air of madness.

Many of them were equipped with knives. Others came at him with their bare hands, fingers stretched open like claws.

Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. He quickly turned around and got into the car. He placed little Will into the backseat before sitting in the driver’s seat himself. He placed the Sword in the Stone in the front passenger seat and closed the door.

By then, one of the pedestrians had made it to the door. He raised his hand and punched the window savagely.

Banging sounds rang out. It was just a matter of time before the window broke. Even more pedestrians rushed him, circling the car…

“Damn it! Just what is going on here? Could it be I have no choice but to kill?”

Chen Xiaolian clenched his teeth, started up the car and stepped down on the throttle.

The car moved forward slowly, forcing its way through the mob. However, it did not take long before someone got up the front hood of the car and threw himself on the car windshield.

A feeling of rage surged out from Chen Xiaolian’s heart – he himself was unable to explain why he suddenly felt so furious.

He stepped down on the throttle furiously and the car charged out. It forced its way out of the mob of crazed pedestrians, trampling those in its path. Blood flowed down the road as the car sped away.

Looking at the rear-view mirror, Chen Xiaolian saw that there were many pedestrians lying on the ground after being trampled by the car. Then, his eyes fell back to the front passenger seat. Just now, in order to start up the car, he had to place the Sword in the Stone on the seat.

A thought sparked within Chen Xiaolian’s mind and he quickly stretched his hand to grab the Sword in the Stone.

A burst of warmth quickly flowed into him from his palm. It was as though a clear stream of water was flowing through him, washing away the unchecked feelings of rage and resentment from his mind.

The Sword in the Stone’s ability to dispel all negative spiritual effects was activated.

It was only after that did Chen Xiaolian breathe a sigh of relief, his mind finally becoming clear.

He turned around and looked behind. Looking at the blood-stained area, his heart shuddered.

Up in the sky…

“Acquired demon points: 7. Current status: 8/999.”

Chen Xiaolian’s heart skipped a beat as he came to a complete understanding.

The path of carnage?

Doing that to acquire demon points?

A struggle appeared within Chen Xiaolian’s expression. Then, a hint of rejection flashed through his eyes.

“This is not real… … all of them are not real… … these are all illusions…”

He gritted his teeth heavily before suddenly halting the car. He looked straight ahead at the bustling crowd moving across the street and stepped down on the throttle…

However, as the car was about to slam into the zebra crossing, Chen Xiaolian suddenly swore and slammed the brakes.

The car skidded to a halt two metres before the zebra crossing.

Chen Xiaolian closed his eyes for a moment before opening them up.

“I… … I cannot do it.”

Even though he knew that those people were all fake, illusions…

Even so… … he was still unable to bring himself to do it.

Because… … even though the people were not real, the heart of carnage would be real.

These ‘people’ that the system created looked so real, filled with flesh and blood…

Must he really kill them? Kill 999 of them?

If he were to really do that… … how dark would his heart become, how savage and… … how damaged…

“Is this the Dark Abyss? A savage heart, bloodthirstiness, heartlessness, viciousness… … An abyss where the soul falls?” Chen Xiaolian harrumphed.

Countdown timer for little Will’s life force: 8 minutes and 33 seconds.

…

Qimu Xi and Xia Xiaolei walked out of the cave. There, they saw a rundown house made from metal sheets.

When QImu Xi saw the house, her eyes lit up and her body gave a shudder.

The light from the setting sun shone down and they could see a number of puppies eating out of a partially broken bowl beside the house door. There was also a dilapidated deck chair. A young boy rested on the deck chair. When Qimu Xi saw the figure, her eyes burst into tears.

“Brother, brother, brother… … brother!!!”

Qimu Xi cried out, opened up her arms and rushed forward.

A strange look flickered through Xia Xiaolei’s face and he watched as Qimu Xi rushed forward.

The puppies turned their heads over and cheerfully padded toward Qimu Xi, circling around her as they sniffed at her.

The boy on the deck chair stood up. His face was quite stiff, but there was a smile there.

The boy spread open his arms and hugged Qimu Xi tightly. Tears and snot trickled down Qimu Xi’s face.

“Brother, brother… … brother! Wahhh!” Qimu Xi sobbed wretchedly.

The boy patted Qimu Xi’s back and whispered into her ears with a comforting tone, “Don’t be afraid, Xixi, don’t be afraid… … brother is here, your brother is here…”

Qimu Xi felt all her strength leaving her body. All she could do was embrace her brother tightly, unwilling to let go.

There was nothing in her mind but a layer of fog. Everything else was blurry and jumbled up.

Suddenly, she heard Xia Xiaolei howling in rage. Then…

Pain shot out from her neck.

The pain caused her to shrink backward. Checking her surrounding, she saw that her brother was biting her shoulder. The stiff face was now filled with savagery and cruelty.

“Brother!” Qimu Xi struggled only to feel another wave of pain coming from her legs.

The puppies that had been cheerfully circling her and sniffing around now bared their fangs, biting her calves.

Qimu Xi screamed out in pain.

Xia Xiaolei rushed forward, pulling the boy away from Qimu Xi. In the heat of the moment, Xia Xiaolei pulled out a military blade and sent it stabbing toward the boy’s figure.

He had noticed the boy clutching a dagger, intending to stab the dagger into Qimu Xi’s throat.

“No!”

Qimu Xi screamed sharply as she saw the military blade pierce into the boy’s chest. The boy cried out in pain and Xia Xiaolei followed up with a kick, sending the boy down the ground.

“Ah!” Before Qimu Xi could even put her hand over the wound on her shoulder, another scream escaped her lips.

Xia Xiaolei sent his leg forward, kicking the puppies that were tenaciously biting her. Without showing any hesitation, he pulled out a gun.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Qimu Xi fell into a seated posture on the ground, watching as Xia Xiaolei shot the puppies dead, one by one…

She watched as her brother sat up again, a dagger in hand. Once again, he attempted to crawl toward her… … there was a twisted expression of brutality on his face.

Xia Xiaolei pointed his gun at the boy.

“No, don’t!” Qimu Xi suddenly jerked up to catch Xia Xiaolei’s hand in an attempt to pull the muzzle of the gun down.

Xia Xiaolei hastily pushed her aside. “Don’t be mad! He wants to kill you! He is not your brother!”

Qimu Xi’s eyes turned red. Like an injured animal, she quickly turned around and embraced the boy, ignoring the pain as the boy bit her again.

Qimu Xi had seemingly lost all sense of pain. Despite the blood flowing down her body, she continued using her own body to block Xia Xiaolei’s aim. At the same time, she pulled out a gun and pointed it at Xia Xiaolei.

“If you kill my brother, I will kill you!”

Xia Xiaolei’s eyes, too, turned red. He was unable to suppress the rage within him and he shouted, “You trash of the guild! You can’t even see through this type of illusion! And now you want to point a gun at me? You trash!”

…