“Uncle Li has been craving a little something lately. I want to eat a human heart!”
“Can you help Uncle Li with this?”
Jiang Ming felt as if his heart had plunged into a subterranean ice cellar. The warmth and tranquillity that existed mere moments ago vanished without a single trace.
At this exact moment, he genuinely and acutely realised that he had transmigrated into a world thoroughly overflowing with bizarre anomalies and absolute terror.
Facing such a grotesque reality, he understood he could only struggle relentlessly and fight with everything he had just to survive.
Yet, even so, not a single shred of regret surfaced in Jiang Ming's mind.
Because in this world, he at least possessed the opportunity to fight back. He had a chance to rewrite his destiny and fight for the mere possibility of survival.
In stark contrast, if he were to return to his previous life, he would only be imprisoned within a sealed, fleshy vessel, enduring the endless torment of absolute isolation, slowly devoured bit by bit by a monster named loneliness.
That agonising, despair-filled eternity was astronomically more unbearable than any supernatural horror!
At this thought, Jiang Ming's gaze crystallised with unprecedented, unshakeable resolve.
He threw himself entirely into his current environment. Every single rule and clue violently collided and deduced within his mind, perfectly resembling an unfathomably complex game of intellect.
His complexion underwent a continuous myriad of changes, his heart simultaneously experiencing a violent, profound struggle.
Ultimately, Jiang Ming inhaled a deep breath of air, as if he had just completely discarded every last ounce of his burdens.
A smile of utter liberation blossomed across his face as he gently spat out a single syllable: “Okay!”
This single word seemed to possess an esoteric, magical property. The absolute instant it dropped, the surrounding environment instantly flared with brilliant light.
The oppressive darkness originally shrouding his surroundings rapidly receded, as if violently scattered by the sun itself. The external natural sunlight poured back into the room.
The grotesque, split corners of Uncle Li's mouth and his three elongated tongues vanished entirely, reverting flawlessly to his original, benevolent and doting appearance.
“Hahaha, Little Ming truly cares for this old bag of bones. I just wonder exactly when you will be able to deliver it to Uncle Li.”
Jiang Ming had just opened his mouth to speak, but Uncle Li began muttering to himself:
“Forget it, I won't trouble you. Tomorrow, Uncle Li will personally come knocking on your door to fetch it.”
“You absolutely must not deceive Uncle Li; otherwise Uncle Li will have to spank your bottom.”
Listening to these seemingly joking words, Jiang Ming could only force a strained smile and play along:
“Hahaha, Uncle Li, how could I possibly deceive you?”
Uncle Li appeared exceptionally pleased. He picked up the apple from the table and offered: “Come, come, good child. Eat an apple.”
“I'll pass, Uncle Li. I still have matters to attend to at home, so I will take my leave first.”
“That works too. Head back for now, and remember to leave the door unlocked for Uncle Li tomorrow.”
“Goodbye, Uncle Li.”
Jiang Ming spun around and departed. Watching Jiang Ming's retreating figure, the benevolent light in Uncle Li's eyes evaporated without a trace, violently replaced by an aura of primordial greed and utter sadism!
Yet, after a brief internal struggle, he shook his head and picked up the half-eaten apple from the table, taking another bite. Immediately afterward, Uncle Li's brows furrowed tightly, and he tossed the apple into the trash can:
“Sure enough, it's only delicious when it is completely fresh. Once it dries out, it loses all its flavour!”
Rustling, sickening sounds echoed from within the trash can. The room was violently swallowed by absolute darkness, and Uncle Li's figure gradually faded into nothingness.
…
At this moment, standing outside the door, Jiang Ming's complexion was exceptionally pale. He cast a profound, lingering backward glance at the room number. Just moments ago, he had genuinely felt the suffocating aura of absolute death.
Furthermore, it was merely the second day. He was still situated within the golden forty-eight-hour window, yet the anomalies were already this ferociously aggressive.
If this time frame elapsed, it was entirely within the realm of possibility for this Uncle Li to come knocking directly and slaughter him. As expected of an S-grade difficulty Rule-Based Anomaly!
Jiang Ming shook his head, forcefully suppressing his agitated heart. Time was incredibly pressing; he needed to handle his official business first. Thus, he strode over to the electrical meter box situated to the side, withdrew his tools from his bag, and prepared to commence his electricity theft.
Jiang Ming donned his gloves, pulled open the meter box, and meticulously observed the circuitry. After absolute confirmation, he initiated the operation.
Jiang Ming had not performed such a deed in many years. He was somewhat rusty at the very beginning, but as time flowed on, his movements grew increasingly masterful and fluid.
Half an hour later, Jiang Ming was drenched in sweat. Having finally completed the entire operation, he wanted to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but upon seeing his filthy gloves, he abandoned the thought.
Right at this moment, a tissue was offered from the side. Delirious with joy, Jiang Ming instinctively accepted it and wiped the sweat from his face, not forgetting to voice his gratitude.
“Thank you!”
But the absolute instant the words left his mouth, Jiang Ming froze solid. Pure, unadulterated terror violently surged into his heart like a tidal wave. He felt every single muscle in his body draw painfully taut, rendering him virtually incapable of moving a single inch.
He mechanically twisted his neck, slowly turning his head to look. Standing right beside him was an exquisitely beautiful woman, gazing at him with a radiant, brimming smile.
“What is it, Little Ming? Are you that happy to see Mother?”
Boom!
Hearing these words, Jiang Ming instantly felt as if he had been struck by five bolts of heavenly lightning. Cold sweat erupted instantaneously, plastering his entire face.
Observing Jiang Ming's reaction, the ‘Mother' beside him smiled even more brilliantly, completely resembling a mother who genuinely cared for her own son.
She withdrew a few more tissues from her pocket, meticulously wiping away Jiang Ming's sweat while whispering softly:
“Why is Little Ming sweating so much? Are you sick? Quickly pack up your things; let's go home and take some medicine!”
Her tone was incredibly gentle. As she helped Jiang Ming pack away his tools, she grabbed onto Jiang Ming's left hand, perfectly masquerading as a good mother doting on her child.
Jiang Ming remained expressionless. He exerted violent force with his wrist, yet his hand felt as if it were securely clamped within a hydraulic vice; he could not break free in the slightest.
“What the actual fuck is this?!
“Isn't today only the second day?!
“Why are all these demonic monsters and grotesque freaks already crawling out of the woodwork!”
Jiang Ming cursed frantically in his heart, yet it was of absolutely zero use.
“What is wrong? Little Ming, hurry up and walk.” ‘Mother' voiced her urging once more, forcibly dragging Jiang Ming forward.
Jiang Ming struggled slightly once more. Upon viscerally sensing the absolute, insurmountable chasm in their physical strength, Jiang Ming inhaled a deep breath, seemingly solidifying a certain profound resolve.
He rapidly shifted his expression, flashing a bright smile:
“Aiya, it must simply be far too hot in this corridor. Mother, let's go, let's head home.”
‘Mother' smiled as radiantly as a blooming flower: “As expected of Mother's good son. Let's go.”
Although her words sounded pleasant, after taking merely two steps, ‘Mother' realised Jiang Ming's body had begun to tremble uncontrollably, as if he were consumed by absolute, bottomless terror.
The closer they drew to the house, the more violently Jiang Ming's body shuddered. Yet ‘Mother' acted as if she could not care less about any of this, merely dragging Jiang Ming relentlessly forward.
Ultimately, staring at the painfully familiar door before them, ‘Mother' shoved Jiang Ming forward slightly, gesturing for him to open the door, all while her palm remained locked in a death grip around Jiang Ming's wrist.
With trembling hands, Jiang Ming slowly withdrew the keys from his pocket. The bone-chilling aura radiating from his side grew increasingly, astronomically terrifying.
The fear in Jiang Ming's heart surged to its absolute peak. He understood with perfect clarity: the exact instant he opened this door, the only thing waiting to welcome him the very next second was death!
Gulp…
Jiang Ming involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Sensing ‘Mother's' grip tightening with terrifying intensity, he could only bite the bullet and slowly inch the key toward the keyhole.
The closer the key drew to the hole, the more violently Jiang Ming's hand trembled…
Clink!
At this moment, Jiang Ming seemingly succumbed entirely to his terror. His hand violently twitched, and the keys plummeted to the ground. This metallic clink sounded exceptionally ear-piercing within the deathly silent corridor.
‘Mother's' gaze was immediately drawn by the dropped keys, her head lowering slightly to look down.
“Now is the time!”
Seizing this infinitesimal window of opportunity, Jiang Ming's bodily tremors ceased in an absolute instant. Replacing them was a gaze overflowing with ruthless ferocity and absolute decisiveness!
Jiang Ming was seen explosively exerting force with his left hand, violently yanking forward. Caught entirely off guard, ‘Mother's' body pitched forward.
Before she could even adjust her balance, Jiang Ming fired off his right leg, delivering a devastating kick squarely into her abdomen. Under this heavy blow, ‘Mother's' palm slipped a massive degree off Jiang Ming's left hand.
Capitalising on his momentum, Jiang Ming chased the victory, ruthlessly firing off several more vicious kicks.
Yet, to Jiang Ming's absolute bewilderment, even after suffering such devastating strikes, ‘Mother's' remaining fingers continued to clamp down on Jiang Ming with a death grip.
Furthermore, precisely because of Jiang Ming's ruthless manoeuvre, the ‘Mother' before his eyes appeared to have been thoroughly and utterly enraged.
Her eyes morphed into a sickening blood-red, her black hair whipping wildly behind her back. Grotesque tentacles surged and writhed beneath her skin, as if some unspeakable abomination was preparing to violently burst out from within her flesh.
The crushing force of her fingers escalated continuously, as if she intended to violently plunge her fingers directly into Jiang Ming's flesh!
Naturally, Jiang Ming absolutely refused to stand by idly and watch ‘Mother' completely mutate into a monstrous abomination.
After all, he was already completely powerless against an unmutated ‘Mother'. If her grotesque metamorphosis was allowed to reach completion, he could only stand there and wait for death.
But if even his full-powered strikes were absolutely useless against ‘Mother', what on earth was he supposed to do?
Jiang Ming rapidly provided the answer. He was seen raising his right hand, extending his middle finger and thumb. The two digits made contact, and with a slight exertion of force, accompanied by a crisp snap, he snapped his fingers!
Reflected in ‘Mother's' bewildered gaze, a colossal vending machine materialised out of thin air, violently smashing squarely into ‘Mother's' face!
It was precisely Jiang Ming's C-grade ability, Vending Machine. Jiang Ming had expended two Sanity points to summon its physical entity into reality!
As for why he snapped his fingers? It was purely because Jiang Ming felt doing so looked infinitely cooler.
The very next second, struck by the gigantic vending machine, ‘Mother's' body contorted backward at an incredibly grotesque angle. She was just preparing to exert force to shove the machine aside, but Jiang Ming refused to grant her a single microsecond of breathing room.
Snap! Snap!
Crash! Crash!
Accompanied by the snapping of fingers, two more heaven-shaking crashes echoed out. Three full vending machines were simultaneously crushing down on ‘Mother's' body. The thin mist was violently churned, and ‘Mother' was pinned ruthlessly beneath the immense weight!
Capitalising on the opportunity, Jiang Ming exerted violent force with his left hand, completely breaking free from her control. However, this escape also left behind three deep, flesh-tearing gashes on his left hand.
Fresh blood dripped down. Completely disregarding the agonising pain, he rapidly spun around, snatched up the keys from the floor, and prepared to open the door.
Right at this moment, a grotesque tentacle lashed out from the gloom, wrapping tightly around Jiang Ming's hand and beginning to wrestle him for control over the dropped keys.
Perhaps owing to the fact that ‘Mother' was being viciously pinned down, the tentacle's physical strength was not overwhelmingly massive, merely slightly exceeding the sheer force of an ordinary adult.
Jiang Ming expended monumental effort to violently break free from the tentacle, ultimately stomping it firmly beneath his foot.
But within this infinitesimally brief window of entanglement, ‘Mother' was already on the verge of breaking completely free from her constraints!
Just as he prepared to open the door, every single hair on Jiang Ming's body violently stood on end! Goosebumps erupted across his entire skin! An unfathomably colossal aura of absolute terror swept over him from behind!
Almost purely out of subconscious reflex, two brand-new vending machines materialised sequentially directly behind Jiang Ming, stacking one in front of the other.
Bang!
The absolute instant the vending machines crashed to the ground, a heaven-shaking shockwave struck. Countless shards and a violent blast wave slammed into the vending machines. The keys in Jiang Ming's hand were sent flying, and his own body was blasted far away by this sheer, unadulterated force.
…
Cough! Ptui!
Blasted into the air, Jiang Ming coughed up a massive mouthful of fresh blood. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he propped himself up to a standing position. Clutching his backpack with his profusely bleeding left hand, he stared forward with absolute horror and bewilderment.
He witnessed the two battered and mangled vending machines being violently pierced through the centre by several grotesque tentacles, before being completely ripped apart toward both sides and ultimately crashing down with a resounding boom.
Directly ahead, the two dilapidated vending machines were brutally torn asunder by an unimaginably colossal force, collapsing with a heaven-shaking boom exactly like fragile paper scattered by a hurricane.
Dust and thick smoke pervaded the air, obscuring his line of sight. Yet, within this absolute chaos, a gargantuan silhouette gradually materialised.
It was a grotesque abomination possessing a colossal, shadowy corpus. Countless slimy, repulsive tentacles writhed and slithered across its entire form, perfectly resembling a tentacled terror born from the darkest abyss.
Two gigantic, blood-red eyes flickered ominously within the darkness, exuding an aura of infinite, bottomless terror and absolute malevolence.
Hovering directly above the abomination's eyes, ‘Mother's' body hung suspended by grotesque tentacles, exactly mimicking the glowing lure of an angler fish!
Jiang Ming agonisingly forced his eyes wide open, desperately attempting to behold the entirety of this grotesque monstrosity. Yet, he could only barely discern a mere fraction of its colossal corpus.
Illuminated faintly by the LED light tubes scattered from the detonated vending machines and the sporadically flickering corridor ceiling lamp, the abomination's silhouette appeared increasingly, astronomically bizarre and terrifying.
The mere instant he laid eyes upon this eldritch abomination, a torrential flood of chaotic, blood-soaked delusions violently erupted within Jiang Ming's mind.
“Eat humans! I want to devour human flesh!”
“I truly want to know what it feels like to rip a beating heart straight out of a chest!”
“…”
These psychotic urges battered his sanity exactly like a ravenous, world-devouring flood, plunging him into unprecedented terror and profound trepidation.
Jiang Ming immediately snapped back to reality. He cast a frantic glance at his Sanity on the system panel, instantly discovering it was plummeting at a horrifying, astronomical velocity compared to its normal decay.
This abomination was far too terrifying; compared to it, Uncle Li was fundamentally not even worth mentioning!
It seemed it had not exerted its full strength just now, or rather, it had merely been playing with him like a toy?
Jiang Ming silently straightened his posture. Meanwhile, a look of sheer, sadistic mockery surfaced within the eyes of the monstrosity directly ahead, as if it were ruthlessly ridiculing this prey trapped in its final death throes.
A single tentacle swept aside the debris on the ground, snatching up the keys he had dropped moments prior. The abomination brought the keys directly before its form, fully prepared to savour the expression of absolute despair on this pathetic insect's face.
At this exact moment, within the deathly silent corridor, a sudden sound abruptly echoed:
Creaaak…
The door opened!
Jiang Ming and the abomination's expressions underwent a violent, instantaneous transformation!