Chapter 101
by 狮子星系Chapter 101
At the instant the system notification sounded, Yeye and Shushu Hao's pupils constricted simultaneously as they cried out, "Be careful!"
The odd creature by the flower bed raised its sharp blade towards the humans below.
Yeye drew her gun, aiming at the creature by the flower bed.
"Shooting: Successful"
Shushu Hao did the same, but since his shooting angle was too high and he feared injuring the child nearby, he gritted his teeth, lunging forward to pin the creature down with his body.
Baba, standing aside, watched their actions in confusion. "What are you doing?"
Yeye didn't have time to explain. Seeing the creature fall still after the headshot, she hurriedly ran to the people beside the flower bed. "Are you all alright?"
Some of them shook their heads in confusion while others pointed at the multi-legged creature on the ground in terror. "What is this thing!?"
The mist began to swirl around them once again.
It seemed as if everything was overlapping with the past.
Lan opened his eyes abruptly in the Divine Realm.
"It can't be..."
To prevent a repeat of what had happened in Arkham, Lan had dispatched people from Carrens to inspect the sewers beforehand. No arrays were found carved anywhere, and Spirit Seeds were planted at the entrance to ensure that no one had entered the sewers during this period.
On the surface, there were also a few Spirit Seeds placed, along with players keeping watch. Logically speaking, it was impossible for a disaster of such magnitude to occur again in Arkham.
"Arkham shows no signs of being trapped in a dream," Ogar said, appearing by Lan's side. "There's no barrier, nor is there sufficient magic... This is just plain fog."
Lan was taken aback. "Then why can the residents and players see the abnormalities?"
Ogar didn't answer, clearly puzzled by the same question.
In reality.
Yeye was typing rapidly on the player channel.
Nightly: An anomaly has appeared on our side! All units, take note, we have an anomaly here!
Even Parity: The same here.
Sunflower: Same situation over here too, but strangely, some residents can't see the anomaly while others can.
Matcha Milk Green: What are you all talking about? What anomaly?
Black Cat: Nothing's happening where we are.
Non-Lucky One Seeking Good Luck Online: I see it! It's really there!
In Lann's Embrace: Is this some new kind of prank? Qwq If it is, just let me know, I might actually fall for it. Or is it one of those 'Emperor's New Clothes' kind of pranks?
What on earth is going on? Why are everyone's accounts differing?
Nightly was momentarily taken aback, noticing then that Babaa had frozen in place, not moving at all.
"What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? I can't see anything." Babba looked at Yeye in puzzlement. "From my perspective, your shot missed the mark."
"Hmm... What's going on here?" Yeyue rubbed her head in confusion, suddenly remembering that Shu-shu Hao was still engaged in battle. "Oh no, Shu-shu Hao is weak!"
"Couldn't you put it more delicately and say I'm not adept at solo combat?"
Uncle Hao rolled his eyes and hurriedly herded the wailing children towards Yeye's location.
"Good heavens, you handled it yourself?"
"Well, that's odd, these creatures are strangely weak," Uncle Hao furrowed his brows, looking at the peculiar creature he had just knocked to the ground. It stood about a meter tall, with a pumpkin for a head, and even the blood it spilled resembled pumpkin juice.
"You do have a point there." Yeyeyue found it peculiar as well. In this game, even the lowest-ranked D-class anomalies were beyond the capability of a single player to handle, something they had already proven when they first entered the game.
Yet, whether it was the bizarre creature that was knocked out by Nighthawk or the one defeated by Uncle Hao with a measly combat strength of 40, their strength was unbelievably low.
And only Nian Nian could see them, not Ba Ba, which drove him somewhat insane.
"What exactly did you kill?" Barbara asked, "Why can't I see it when the rest of you can?"
"Could it be that you're just not clever enough?"
"I see it, I see it!"
"???"
"Hmm, I see it too. It does look rather peculiar."
"Stop messing around, don't you see Babba is scared witless? Hahaha."
"But it's really strange, isn't it? Druid's live stream is normal, so why is there this weirdness in Yeye's?"
"Maybe some of you can see it and some can't. Could it be that you did something Babba didn't do before?"
"Possible."
"What did Yeye and Uncle Hao do previously?"
"They haven't done much either, just eating and using the restroom."
"The issue must lie with the restroom!"
"Did you two, Ye Ye and Shu Shu Hao, have something in the bathroom...?"
"Without Baba Knowing, Just the Two of Them"
Uncle Hao narrowly escaped being swayed by the barrage of comments. He laughed and scolded, "How could that be? We've been together the whole time, doing everything together."
"How would I know why you can't see it? I did kill a creature, didn't I? Otherwise, are there humans with sixteen legs?" Yeyue kicked the headless creature on the ground, nearly vomiting. Its skin resembled that of a ghoul they had seen before, gelatinous in texture, but not quite the same, for this one had sixteen human legs sprouting from its body like bony protrusions, a nauseating sight.
Her kick dislodged something from its embrace, rolling to a middle-aged woman tending to a flower bed. The woman stared blankly at the object on the ground – a shoe, a somewhat worn-out white sneaker.
"Neil...?"
"What are you talking about, Mom?" asked the young woman beside her.
The middle-aged woman swiftly picked up the sneaker, her lips trembling. "This is Neil's, this is Neil's shoe!"
The commotion here drew the attention of Barbara and the others who were deep in thought. At this moment, Barbara noticed the scattered candies and cookies near the flower bed, and an idea suddenly dawned on her.
"Candies and biscuits, you two have been munching on them the whole journey. I was so full from before I logged into the game that I didn't even touch these!"
Barbara pointed excitedly at the sugar on the ground. "Wow, I'm so clever! I think it's highly likely..."
No sooner had he spoken than the young woman beside him, in a frenzy, scooped up the soiled cookie from the ground and forced it into her mouth. After a struggle to swallow, she stared blankly at the bizarre corpse with its sixteen legs that had materialized before her, instinctively letting out a piercing scream.
"My, my child." The middle-aged woman's fingers trembled as she reached out to turn over the bizarre corpse. However, when she flipped it, the face that had been lying on the ground was utterly deformed—its nose where its eyes should have been, and its mouth at the site of its ear.
With its bizarre mouth contorting open and shut, half of its skull blasted away, it was miraculously still alive, its sapphire eyes fixated on the weeping middle-aged woman.
"…Ma, ma…"
"Damn, what's it calling out?"
"…"
Nian Nian stared, dumbfounded, at the scene before him. He then glanced at the photograph held by the young woman, which depicted a roughly ten-year-old child grinning joyfully into the camera, their blue eyes exceedingly endearing.
Unnoticed by the players, a stray weed on the side was also witnessing the scene. Lane, in his quest for information, was observing reality through all the sentient plants within Arkham.
Countless chaotic images flooded his mind, a deluge of data overwhelming him. Lane pressed his temples, his expression grim. "So that's how it is..."
The bizarre creatures were, in essence, humans.
They were formed from human souls lost in the Gap of Dreams, which explained why Jason had taken over Job's body and transformed into a mass of maggots.
He had become a bizarre creature first, then infiltrated Job's body.
The reason the bizarre creatures longed for the real world was because it was their true home. Even with twisted minds, monstrous bodies, and lost memories, the imprint on their souls constantly urged them to return.
Their strength didn't stem from inherent power but from the fact that powerful bizarre creatures originated from powerful humans. It was likely that so-called A and B ranked creatures were once extraordinary individuals who ventured deep into the Gap of Dreams.
As for the weak creature that Night and the others had faced, it was because...
Those bizarre creatures were ordinary people who had perished in the Gap of Dreams.
No wonder Lane had noticed an increase in the number of bizarre creatures in reality.
That was because Sauron had once transformed Arkham into a massive Dream Rift, where the souls of those who perished might have turned into abnormalities.
"Isn't that utterly terrible?" Lane rubbed his head. "If they still retain some memories..."
Possessing the remnants of human memories alongside an instinct to kill abnormalities—what kind of outcome would that lead to?
In the mist, countless figures of varying heights, statures, and distortions gradually approached the crowd.
Following the trail of cookies and candies, they were on their way home.
They returned from the mist.
Oof- had a feeling but- yea. That one hurts.