It was the first time the system heard its host speak so coldly.
As if even the tone was sharpened with a keen edge.
Its entire system trembled, only then did it belatedly realize that its host and his partner… seemed to be very affectionate.
Oh right, just now, Zong Lin’s mutated consciousness was still calling Shen Jie “Baby”.
So why bother choking his host when they’re calling each other ‘Baby’?
[Host! The creature is a lying ghost! Don’t trust it! We need to leave the consciousness space quickly——]
As the system spoke, it attempted to inject a current into Shen Jie’s brain in the real world.
The surroundings fluctuated violently for a moment.
The Pale King seemed to sense something, making a nasal sound as he uttered a word: “Huh?”
At the same time, the system let out a miserable scream.
[ZZZ… We’ve been found out… ZZZ…]
[ZZZ… You’ve integrated too deeply, the method of forcibly awakening with electric current won’t work… ZZZ… Host, the “Pale King” is now just a partial consciousness of Zong Lin’s corruption, not yet fused with the real body. It’s not a complete Rank Two, and the constructed domain space is also incomplete… ZZZ… It must have fatal flaws… Find the flaws… Escape…]
The system’s voice disappeared.
Shen Jie slowly raised his eyes, seeing the twisted space where the scene of the laboratory and the Pale King’s domain overlapped.
Zong Lin and the Pale King sandwiched him in an immovable center.
Behind him was a cold chest, and in front of him was a hot breath.
His right hand was still entangled by the bone wings, and he hung in mid-air, with only his left hand barely able to move.
He felt like a puppet being casually manipulated.
In all his long years, no one had ever put him in such a helpless situation.
A hint of hostility surged in Shen Jie’s eyes. Suddenly, his left hand covered his own neck and grabbed the hand of the Pale King.
Not to break it apart.
But to press down with even greater force.
Wasn’t the Pale King threatening Zong Lin by threatening to crush his windpipe?
Then let it crush him.
It would be best to completely destroy it, freeing his soul’s essence from this ordinary human body.
The Pale King hadn’t expected him to do this. The bone spikes on its transformed hands didn’t even soften, piercing through Shen Jie’s palm in an instant.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Sticky, viscous blood oozed from Shen Jie’s hand, yet he seemed oblivious to the pain, continuing to grip the Pale King’s hand tightly.
Ktf Ujif Blcu’r lms nblmf yfmjwf rbwfktja oierafgfv: “Tbe!”
Vboa oifrt jcv rmjivlcu yibbv kgjqqfv jgbecv atf ybcf rqlxfr, yegclcu lar tjcv. Gfrqlaf atf tewjc’r tjcv yflcu kfjx vef ab yflcu lc j rajaf bo reoobmjalbc, la mbeivc’a gfrlra lc atja wbwfca—
Qts vlv atf Ujif Blcu offi atf tewjc’r oifrt jcv yibbv kfgf tfjnlfg atjc wbecajlcr jcv rfjr?
Suddenly, the Pale King’s body dispersed like shadows, leaking out from between Shen Jie’s fingers.
With no support, Shen Jie leaned forward, and Zong Lin immediately pulled him into his arms.
“Are you okay?” Zong Lin’s voice was anxious.
Shen Jie’s injured hand hung limp on Zong Lin’s arm, completely powerless, as a large amount of blood flowed from the wound in his palm, filling the space with a strong smell of blood.
“Ah… cough… cough…” He lay in Zong Lin’s arms, unable to respond, instinctively gasping for fresh air.
Zong Lin’s arm trembled slightly.
He struggled to control his strength, pulling the person closer to his chest, holding them tighter, determined not to let them fall into the hands of the mutated consciousness again, unaware like before.
The laboratory lights flickered.
The figure of the Pale King slowly solidified again not far away.
“What a touching couple,” the Pale King spoke.
Standing amidst the interplay of light and shadow, its tall and elongated figure stood erect, massive bone wings spread out, piercing through the metal walls of the laboratory, reaching towards the pale sky of the domain space.
Its transformed hands intertwined, slowly applauding.
“You would rather sacrifice yourself than pose a threat to him, isn’t that right?” the Pale King said.
It paused, asking a second question.
“…But what about me?”
Shen Jie took a few breaths, finally recovering somewhat, and looked up at the Pale King.
The familiar face hidden beneath the bone armor made his brows furrow involuntarily.
He was about to say something when the swaying in the space suddenly intensified.
Then, the dome of the laboratory began to collapse.
The pale light of the sky spilled down.
As if sensing something, Zong Lin swiftly cut open a dark rift in space with his spear and said to Shen Jie, “Go!”
The Pale King: “You can’t escape.”
The voices of the two men resounded simultaneously in the intersecting space.
The Pale King held a bone spear in hand, appearing out of nowhere, and its bone wings flapped as it swooped towards them.
Zong Lin pushed Shen Jie into the dark crevice and, holding the spear, turned to face the Pale King.
The two identical spears clashed, sparking off fiery collisions.
The tremendous impact even caused the entire palace of consciousness to tremble.
Shen Jie was pushed into the dark crevice, his clothes fluttering.
He knew this was a path of retreat forcibly created by Zong Lin, in order to be able to exit his consciousness space and stay away from his struggle with the Pale King.
Shen Jie sighed.
Unfortunately, this passage couldn’t truly lead him out.
He had already seen the white web deep below, like a patient hunter awaiting his arrival.
And he wasn’t planning to escape anyway. Because he had promised to bring Zong Lin back home. He always kept his promises.
To soothe the chaos in Zong Lin’s consciousness space, he had to deal with the mutation within him. Escaping wouldn’t solve the problem. And the most skilled hunters sometimes appeared in the form of prey, don’t they?
He opened his arms and let himself fall into the white web.
Soft strands surrounded and enveloped him, crawling over his limbs, while a blanket of white light surged towards him. Some even seeped into his brain through his eyelids and eardrums. It wasn’t painful, but he could feel something slowly pulsating and shifting on the folds of the human brain.
Control, alteration. Alienation, infection.
He sank into a realm of whiteness.
—-
When Shen Jie woke up, he found himself lying in the hospital room. The pale light from the ceiling illuminated his face, while nearby, the scent of white magnolias wafted faintly, though it couldn’t mask the strong smell of hospital disinfectant. He had a breathing mask over his nose and mouth, with fog forming with each breath. There was an IV drip attached to the back of his hand, and his body felt as weak as if it had been run over by a car.
“Xiao Shen, you’re finally awake!” Professor Xu looked at him with a surprised expression. “You’ve been unconscious for almost a week. I’ve been saying it’s dangerous to coordinate work without monitoring, but you never listen. Fortunately, Mr. Zong stabilized his infection value and brought you out. He also arranged for several ‘Life’ category’s ability users to come and treat you. Otherwise, you might have died from severe soul impact!”
Shen Jie blinked slowly, feeling even lifting his eyelids was exhausting.
“Xiao Shen, you can’t work so hard in the future. We’re just ordinary people. Being able to live a peaceful life and provide some assistance to the ability users within our capabilities is already enough. Let the great deeds be done by great people; we’re just insignificant figures in the apocalypse…” Professor Xu rambled on, “I remember you have a partner, right? She must be worried about you. I wanted to use your phone to send a message to let her know you’re safe, but you said your phone was broken… You need to get better soon and go home to explain things properly.”
The mention of “going home” seemed to strike a nerve with Shen Jie. His five fingers, still attached to the IV drip, suddenly curled up, and blood flowed back a few inches from the injection needle, causing the nearby monitor to sound an alarm due to unstable heart rate.
“Oh! Xiao Shen, be careful, don’t get too excited. Take deep breaths, calm down,” Professor Xu hastily said, “You can’t move around now because your condition is delicate. Due to the coordination process being affected by the abilities, both mentally and physically, you’ve suffered severe injuries and must rest properly.”
Shen Jie closed his eyes, but his mind was filled with strange and colorful visions and reflections. The headache was intense.
Suddenly, the sound of the door opening came from nearby.
Someone walked in quickly.
“What’s wrong with him?” a man’s deep voice echoed in the room. The voice was very familiar.
“He just woke up less than two minutes ago. But it’s different from the confused state he was in before. It seems he’s regained some consciousness and has shown a bit of stress response,” Professor Xu explained.
“I’ll take a look,” the man said.
The hospital’s white light outside the eyelids was overshadowed by shadows.
Shen Jie opened his eyes to meet a pair of dark, blood-red pupils. The man’s pale hair cascaded like snow, his features stern.
He was dressed in a black trench coat and a matching inner lining, with a gunmetal gray restraint collar around his neck, its edges flashing with the red light of activity.
Shen Jie felt a sense of familiarity with the man’s appearance. He wanted to raise his hand to touch him, but any movement would disturb the IV line, causing it to clang against the metal stand.
Then, his hand was held down.
“Don’t move,” the man said.
So, he stayed still.
The man leaned over to observe his condition, then reached out and gently probed a certain spot on his neck with his fingertip. After a moment, he spoke.
“The soul’s condition has stabilized. You can remove the breathing mask now.”
“Great,” Professor Xu said excitedly, “Mr. Zong and your friend have been coming over to help these days. Otherwise, Shen Jie wouldn’t have recovered so quickly.”
Mr. Zong replied, “It’s only right. The accident was my fault, so I have to take responsibility for him.” He seemed to emphasize the word “responsibility.”
Shen Jie glanced sideways at the man.
For some reason, he felt a slight warmth and itchiness where “Mr. Zong” had touched him just now.
Professor Xu called a nurse to remove his breathing mask.
Mr. Zong approached him, adjusted the bed, and brought a cup of water, spoon-feeding him a few sips.
His throat muscles felt sore, swallowing was difficult, but he managed to swallow it down.
Mr. Zong seemed to sense his discomfort, so he set down the water cup and said, “Now that your condition has stabilized, I think it’s time for further full-body examination and soul stabilization therapy.”
Professor Xu nodded. “Do you need me to leave?”
Mr. Zong replied, “Please. Half an hour.”
Professor Xu seemed very confident in him as he got up and left, closing the door behind him.
The room fell silent.
Shen Jie quietly watched the man in front of him.
The man first got up to lock the door, then returned, bent down, and pressed a kiss to his forehead, calling him softly.
“… Darling, you’re finally awake.”
Ahh, Mr. Zong, the patient doesn’t seem to be as responsive as before! Poor bb 🫠
idk but something is off
Hm, why do I feel it’s still inside the soul domain/illusion ?
Is he original Zhong or the pale king ??? 😲
He sounds more like the pale king tbh