Chapter 2: Death

After crushing the tablet between her fingers, Cang Xingyu swept her gaze across the shabby, dilapidated room before her.

An inexplicable sense of discord rose in her.

The figure reflected in the mirror seemed to be her own face, yet it looked terribly unfamiliar.

A mop of black hair, neglected and filthy, hung in a tangled mess. Beneath hollow, gaunt cheeks, a pair of dark, clouded eyes stared back at her with lifeless emptiness.

She gave a wry, self-mocking smile, and the movement tugged at the faint stinging pain at her temples.

Almost reflexively, she touched her forehead. The searing heat there made her suck in a breath.

Clearly, this body was being ravaged by a fever.

Looking around the sparse room, Cang Xingyu’s eyes passed over the few meager household items before settling on the bedside.

An old map, wrapped around a short dagger.

She could read it.

The entire region was divided into five ring-shaped zones from the outside inward, marked in sequence from F to A.

Each ring was further subdivided into numbered districts. Yet the A-ring position at the center was left blank, as though someone had deliberately erased it.

As for her and Qi Xue, they were in the outermost, most expansive slum sector: District 52 of F7.

Cang Xingyu pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to make sense of the situation.

She had nearly been killed by a stranger in some grotesque fashion, and then a girl had burst in and happened to save her...

A chill of lingering fear tightened her fist.

She could never simply lie here obediently. She had to take the initiative and uncover the truth of this world.

Having made up her mind, and enduring the dizziness with difficulty, Cang Xingyu picked up the small knife beside her, pushed open the creaking door, and stepped into the world outside.

The sunlight was blinding. She instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes, and the scene before her gradually came into focus.

As far as the eye could see, dense rows of shacks stretched into the distance like a dead gray cemetery.

Unexpectedly, in stark contrast to the surrounding desolation, the ground was remarkably clean, even laid with crude concrete.

Several water tanks stood along the street, and above the faucets, the emblem of the Border Mutual Aid Alliance was especially conspicuous.

And yet, despite these basic facilities, there were still very few people around. Aside from the few who had appeared earlier when the inspectors came to demand rent, those people seemed to lose interest once they saw that she was unharmed.

The area controlled by the Border Mutual Aid Alliance was separately enclosed.

Outside the wall, great swathes of dark red blood snaked across the street, and several lifeless bodies lay strewn in the gore, their hollow sockets staring fixedly up at the lead-gray sky.

Vultures circled overhead, their shrill cries ringing out as they swooped down in competition, pecking at the rotting flesh.

By comparison, the walled-off territory of the Alliance seemed almost peaceful.

Yet a strong unease welled up in Cang Xingyu’s heart.

What exactly was this world? Why, in such a shattered place where survival was so difficult, could there still exist an organization that seemed to function normally, like the Border Mutual Aid Alliance?

This could never be an ordinary slum.

A cold wind brushed against Cang Xingyu’s face, sending shivers through her body.

Faint sounds drifted now and then from the dark corners, like clothes rubbing together, or someone stifling a sob.

Her heartbeat suddenly quickened. She tightened her grip on the dagger and scanned her surroundings warily, yet she still could not catch sight of any suspicious figure. An indescribable unease washed over her.

The faint noises kept rising from the darkness, as though some unknown creature were lurking there, watching her every move.

...Was someone following her?

She looked around, but there was no one there, only broken walls and ruins making a horrible creaking in the wind, as if murmuring some ominous prophecy. The ruined shacks opened their dark windows like countless empty eyes, spying on every move of this uninvited guest.

Was it just her imagination?

Her nerves were stretched taut, and a thin sheen of sweat gathered in her palm. But no matter how carefully she probed, the only answer she received was the wind.

Was she becoming a little too hysterical...

Clutching the dagger, Cang Xingyu took a step closer to the gate in the fence.

As long as she opened the lock, she could leave this ominous place and go out to investigate the world beyond.

Just as her fingertips were about to touch the rusted latch, a faint rustling sound came from behind her.

The sound was extremely slight; if not for the oppressive silence, it would have been easy to miss.

But at that moment, it rang in Cang Xingyu’s ears like a thunderclap.

A bone-deep chill rose abruptly from the nape of her neck, like the breath of death exhaled against her skin. Cang Xingyu froze in place, even her breathing involuntarily slowing.

Countless dreadful possibilities flashed through her mind—was it an inspector? Or some stranger?

Don’t turn around. Run!

Her instincts screamed wildly.

And yet her body defied her will.

The instant she turned her head, Cang Xingyu’s pupils contracted violently.

What entered her sight was a ghastly, deathly pale face.

There were no features on that face at all, only a blank expanse of white.

The skin had a corpse-like bluish pallor, as though it had been soaked in corrosive liquid. Its surface was uneven, covered in horrifying gashes and cracks.

Between those fissures, pink flesh was faintly visible, writhing with the monster’s breaths, while sticky red fluid seeped out from time to time.

The thought that she had escaped by chance just moments ago vanished in an instant, replaced by boundless despair and terror.

Cang Xingyu’s body was almost entirely swallowed by the creature’s towering shadow, and an invisible pressure clamped her throat, making it hard to breathe.

In the instant she froze, the monster’s body underwent a horrifying change.

A huge裂口 abruptly split open in the middle of its torso, exposing the bright red flesh and writhing viscera within.

Then countless slender limbs shot out from the opening, wrapping around Cang Xingyu’s neck at a grotesque angle that violated all reason. Those thin, tentacle-like appendages coiled around her throat in a twisted, unnatural manner.

Cold and slimy, they reeked of rot and were coated in corrosive mucus. They tightened gradually, mercilessly gripping Cang Xingyu’s throat, as if they meant to crush her neck.

Suffocation pressed at her nerves. She struggled with all her strength, but could not break free in the slightest.

Her weakened body seemed drained of every last ounce of strength, left entirely at the monster’s mercy.

In that desperate, near-death moment, Cang Xingyu opened her mouth and bit viciously down on the limbs coiled around her throat.

Sharp teeth sank at once into the monster’s cold, slick flesh, and a foul stench flooded her mouth, choking her nearly to the point of retching.

Unexpectedly, the monster let out a shrill howl, as though the bite had brought it immense pain. Its body suddenly shrank back, and the tentacle-like limbs loosened, releasing their hold on Cang Xingyu.

Cang Xingyu seized the fleeting chance, rolled away from the creature, and then fled forward with all her might.

Her heart pounded wildly, nearly bursting from her chest. Her legs trembled uncontrollably from fear, barely able to support her body.

She staggered onward, but before she had even run a few steps, a piercing sound came from behind her.

It was the sound of a blade piercing flesh.

Time seemed to freeze at that instant.

Cang Xingyu lowered her head in disbelief and looked at her chest. At some point, the monster’s limbs had transformed into sharp claws and driven completely through her body.

Blood gushed from the wound at once, soaking through her thin clothes in an instant.

An icy coldness spread from her chest, as though a faint flame were searing her skin.

Cang Xingyu’s eyes widened, her pupils contracting in pain. Trembling, she parted her lips, but no sound came out.

Only one question kept spinning in her mind.

Why...

There would be no chance left to speak that question aloud.

The pale claws thrust out through her chest, crimson blood dripping from their tips and pooling on the ground into a glaring red stain.

Life drained rapidly from her body, and her vision began to blur.

All strength was stripped away in a single instant. Cang Xingyu staggered twice and collapsed to her knees.

Her gaze gradually grew vacant, as though a veil of mist had settled over it. In her wide-open eyes, the distorted three suns in the gray sky were reflected.

A special transformation has occurred.

The neural network linkage is complete. Mind-body integration has reached the critical threshold and is about to break through the awakening limit.

Warning: An unplanned path activation mode has been detected. Source unknown.

Warning: The host’s current vitality index is 0.12, below the minimum requirement. Emergency protocol initiated. Forced repair of the integration process.

Warning! The integration process has been interfered with by an unknown force and is now in a dispersed state.

Warning! Soul tuning frequency mismatch. Attempting to re-anchor...

Warning! Consciousness stream data discontinuity detected 5YiG5pWw5o2u6IqC54K55qCh6aqM5aSx

6K2m5ZGK77yB5qC45b+D5Luj56CB6YGt5Yiw56+h5pS577yM6YCa6YGT5YWz6Zet

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