Chapter 292: The Increasing Tragedy

The Large Lingering Spirit, Eight-Crown was killed by the tenants of Happiness Neighbourhood, its consciousness was absorbed into Ying Yue’s eyes, the resentment it accrued for years was absorbed by Jin Sheng’s class teacher, while its large amount of Yin energy was shared by all. Other than for the Eight-Crown, this was a happy ending for all. The monster’s giant body disappeared just like that. Bai Sinian stood there stumped, unable to believe his eyes. When he saw Han Fei who scaled back up the edge of the hole, he was even more shocked. The man who looked so weak and even bookish, was covered in ghastly tattoo when he faced off against the Large Lingering Spirit and his butchering skill was the most expert and cruellest Bai Sinian had ever seen.

“One really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.” Bai Sinian walked to stand behind Han Fei and asked cautiously, “What should we do next?”

“We should investigate the sea of flowers further.” Even after the Large Lingering Spirit was killed, the Grade F Hidden Mission was not completed. It meant that there were still secrets at the company.

“Some security guards had wandered into the sea of flowers before. The moment they did, they would be controlled and lose their minds. This place is very dangerous, I’d advise you to proceed with extreme caution.” Bai Sinian said that out of kindness but when he saw Big Sin who was crawling through the sea of flowers with extreme joy, his eyes started to twitch again. What group of monsters was this?

Actually, Han Fei was also observing Big Sin. Without Eight-Crown in the way, Big Sin jumped into the blood pool in the middle of the hill and started to bathe in it. Before the security guards were sent to Ziggurat, they were only required to take one drop of this blood, this liquid was very dangerous. However, as Big Sin soaked itself in the pool, the water level started to decrease and a blood red pattern started to show on the bug’s exoskeleton. As if in direct contrast to the Butterfly, while the butterfly’s victims had beautiful and captivating patterns, Big Sin’s pattern was ghastly, grotesque and barbaric, the style was completely opposite. “What will happen after Big Sin has absorbed all the blood in this hill?”

As the water level in the blood pool decreased, the red flowers over the hill started to wilt. The death of the red flowers revealed intertwining black vessels and beneath those were layers of ‘humans’. The flowers’ vines grew out from their brain, their humanity and memory becoming the fertilizer for the flowers. The stronger the memory, the brighter the flower. After the red flowers died, it was followed by the wilting of the black roots. The net that entrapped the ‘people’ started to loosen.

Mumblings emitted from the deep hole, it sounded like the dead bodies were sleep-talking. Initially there were only one or two but gradually more and more people awakened. They started to regain their memories. Various expressions colored their previously dull faces, most of them had to do with pain and despair.

“Captain? Senior? Senior!” After the sea of flowers faded away, Bai Sinian’s eyes suddenly zoomed in on a spot. He was startled before he ran towards the edge of the hole.

“Wait! Don’t go there!” Han Fei wanted to stop him but this cowardly man had already slid down Han Fei’s chain into the hole. His body was submerged in the black roots, his legs sinking into the swamp of dead bodies. However, he didn’t give up or sink, instead he tried his best to swim towards the centre of the swamp. After sensing the presence of a living spirit, the black roots appeared to come back alive. They instinctively latched onto Bai Sinian’s body, wanting to drag him into the depths of the hole.

Shredding the nearby roots, the seemingly cowardly spirit showcased enormous strength, nothing was able to stop him in this state. As more roots grew on his body, Bai Sinian should have been dragged down into the swamp by now but somehow he managed to reach the centre of the hole.

“Senior?” Ignoring the layering of roots on his body, he tore off the roots that twined around another body and tried to yank him out from the mountain of dead bodies. Flowers bloomed in the gap between souls. The body no longer had any presence with it, only its past habits and a weak presence. After Bai Sinian grabbed his hand, the dead man tried his best to point towards the blood pool. Pain and sadness covered his face. After drinking the blood, they would become toys and puppets of the Ziggurat; if they refused to drink the blood, they wouldn’t be able to leave the deep hole. The blood inside the pool contained human cocoons and the roots hated cocoons. It was through this delicate balance that Ziggurat managed to create this mountain under the security company.

Normally those who were forced into the hole had no other choice but to drink the blood in the pool. If they refused, they would have to stay forever but now that Han Fei was here, a new rule had appeared. The old should be abolished.

“Grab hold of this!” Drake swung the chain to Bai Sinian’s side. The man in the hole saw the group standing at the edge. Different from Butterfly who could only bring pain and death, these people would always bring hope. Holding his senior’s body in one hand, he grabbed the chain with another. Bai Sinian was thus dragged by Drake and Lee Huo out from the hole. Seeing Bai Sinian being dragged away, Big Sin even chased after him, as if mocking him or perhaps it was trying to stake its territory claim.

When Bai Sinian was rescued out from the hole, a new notification appeared in Han Fei’s mind.

“Notification for Player 0000! Friendliness level with Bai Sinian increases by 10, you’ve gained Bai Sinian’s initial trust, you are now colleagues.

“Bai Sinian (The Cowardly Ghost): A very unique spirit, he is the most cowardly one at the security company and mocked by most. But he is also the last survivor at the security company! Do not underestimate him, when the coward is no longer cowardly, he’ll become extraordinarily scary!”

The system notification was quite surprising. Then again, when Han Fei thought about it, he realized the system was right. Bai Sinian did manage to survive until the end, the boss didn’t kill him but instead trapped him in a hellish loop. There had to be a reason why his boss had done that.

Even though he only lingered in the hole for a limited time, there were already a lot of black roots that had drilled into Bai Sinian’s body but he didn’t have any regret. He kept thanking the people around him, this young man couldn’t be more polite even if he tried.

The change inside the hole was still continuing. It was little wonder that Big Sin was the manifestation of tragedy, its small body had caused the large mountain to topple and turn. After draining all the blood inside the pool, it killed the human cocoons which were being nurtured inside the pool, tore off all the flowers and sliced through all the roots. Since how happy and free Big Sin was, Han Fei was honestly quite envious.

After a whole half an hour, after all the flowers wilted, Big Sin dipped into the deepest part of the mountain. At the bottom of the bottom pool, Big Sin bit and brought out a piece of human skin that contained a butterfly pattern. This thing appeared to be the core of the dead mountain. When the root binding the human skin to the mountain was severed, all the dead bodies inside the hole started to groan but the voice didn’t come from their mouths but it was an echo of their souls. Without the binding of the black roots, the numb souls finally regained their true feeling.

The mountain collapsed. The bodies’ craniums were cracked, traces of butterflies were left in their minds. Seeing this, Han Fei thought about many things. Butterfly appeared to be born from the depths of humanity. Did Butterfly take control of its first victim or did that person turn into the Butterfly?

The Butterfly did so many things, crazy on all levels in both cryptic and real worlds, other than to find the black box, it appeared to have another goal, which was to create another Butterfly. But it never succeeded. The last time it tried, it created the Spider and now it created Big Sin.

After ensuring all the roots were destroyed, with Drake’s protection, Han Fei jumped into the hole. Seeing the dead bodies hidden under the mountain, he had no idea why the previous manager would paste the Iyashikei label on this gaming helmet. Noting Han Fei, Big Sin ran towards him carrying the human skin the size of a palm. If Big Sin had a furry body and was not carrying a human skin, it would be quite cute.

“Is this for me?” Han Fei discovered that after absorbing all the blood in the pool, Big Sin became cleverer. As he reached out to grab the human skin, several system notifications rang in his mind.

“Notification for player 0000! You’ve been infected by Soul Poison, please seek medical attention immediately!

“You’ve obtained Skin of Hatred. The skin contains the presence of Pure Hatred and possesses the curse of the same origin! Please take care of it carefully. Taking this out willy-nilly and you might attract the Pure Hatred’s attention!

“Your pet, Big Sin has absorbed enough blood from its natural nemesis to break through to the second larvae stage! Loyalty increases by 10! All basic ability increases in power and all attributes double. It also obtained a new larvae talent—Harbinger of Tragedy.”

“Big Sin (Grade F Cursed Insect): Tragedy is brewing but you do not notice it at all. The faster it grows, the heavier the scent of death is on you. No one has been able to keep an adult Big Sin as a pet because no one has been able to live until that stage.”