Chapter 302

Chapter 302 - The World Plunged into Darkness

The Law of Shared Oaths!

It activated the moment Ji Huan's foot touched the boundary of the Oathbound Realm once more!

An intense pain akin to his heart exploding wracked his body, causing him to stumble and crash onto the ground. As he tumbled, the bus behind him suddenly vanished, replaced by a vast expanse of white snow. Before he could fall into the icy cold, Grandpa caught him.

It hurt!

So much!

Unbearable pain!

The horned monster clutched his grandson tightly, anxiously scanning their surroundings for shelter from the snow. The snow was falling so heavily that it soon reached his ankles. With concern for his grandson in his arms, he bent down. "Hei Dan, hurry up!"

Hei Dan immediately nodded understandingly and grabbed onto the hem of Grandpa's pants. The little monster climbed quickly. Normally, he would have climbed into Grandpa's embrace, for there was always a spot for him in the horned monster's arms. In Ye Falar, it shielded him from the sandstorms, while in Miaoleni, it protected him from the snow and wind. But at this moment, Hei Dan stopped climbing once he reached Grandpa's shoulder.

At this moment, Ah Ye was holding Jiujiu in his arms, and the little one was clearly in distress.

Obediently lying on Ah Ye's shoulder, the young demon creature peered at Jiujiu's face with its tiny head.

After carrying his grandson for a long while, the horned demon finally found a house that, miraculously, had not been crushed.

He even knocked on the door.

Of course, there was no response, so he pushed the door open and entered with his grandson in tow.

Upon entering the house and seeing the owner, the horned demon was momentarily taken aback:

They were the only two demons they had seen along their journey. But now, the horned demon was at a loss for words to describe them:

They had turned into ice sculptures.

Still maintaining the posture they had while watching TV, the two demons sat on the sofa, their faces still wearing the shocked expressions from before. They were frozen in the pose they had just before turning into "statues."

"Ah Ye..." Hei Dan called out softly.

"Don't be afraid, my little darling!" The horned monster patted his great-grandson's back, realizing that it was covered in snow. He promptly scooped the young monster off his shoulder.

Without his grandfather's assistance, the little monster brushed the snow off himself.

After cleaning himself, he started brushing the snow off his grandfather—the horned monster was now solely focused on his grandson and had no time for himself.

The horned monster surveyed the surroundings. They must be quite close to Ye Falar, as evident by the abundance of cloaks in the room, all wrapped tightly around the owner for warmth. There were no other means of keeping warm inside.

Black Dan immediately understood what his grandpa was searching for. He rummaged through his small backpack and quickly pulled out two large blankets.

These were purchased by Ajin near Miaoleni earlier. After distributing some to the guards, Black Dan only had a few left in his bag.

The little monster offered one of the blankets to his grandpa, but the horned monster refused.

"You share with your uncle. I'll go outside and see what's going on, and…" The horned monster glanced around again. "I need to find something to use as firewood. It's too cold in here."

"Be good, Black Dan! Stay with Jiujiu, and take good care of him. He's not feeling well. Don't be scared, Big Bai and the others will keep you company." Patting the little monster's head, the horned monster got up and headed towards the door.

Black Dan looked at his grandpa, then climbed away from Jiujiu after a moment, taking a few steps toward his grandfather.

"Don't be afraid, Grandpa will be back soon," the ram-horned monster reassured him with a smile, waving his hand.

Black Egg nodded and, after a moment, returned to Jiujiu's side.

The Big Bai family huddled at the foot of the bed, shivering from the cold. Black Egg tucked Little Lu under the blanket and nestled into the same covers as Jiujiu.

The temperature continued to plummet.

Seeing Jiujiu sweating profusely, with each droplet freezing into tiny ice pellets the moment it touched the air, the bed was now covered in these icy spheres.

The little monster watched Ji Huan, still in immense pain, and finding the handkerchief useless, he extended his small claws to continuously wipe away the "sweat beads" sticking to Ji Huan's skin. Then, he swept away those frozen droplets of sweat from the bed.

Again and again, the little monster showed no sign of tiring.

Finally, he stopped wiping Jiujiu's "sweat." Flipping through his bag, the little monster retrieved a bottle – he wanted to give Jiujiu some water to drink.

When Egg was exhausted from running and sweating, Jiujiu would summon him for a drink.

Sweating required rehydration – that's what Jiujiu had taught him.

But—

The bottle was tightly sealed, and the little monster had to put in an immense effort just to unscrew it. Only then did he realize that the water inside was frozen as well.

The little monster was momentarily stunned. However, he quickly came up with a solution: he stuffed the icy bottle into his embrace, using his skill to heat water and began to warm up the contents of the bottle.

Perhaps due to the extreme coldness around them, he had to exert much more energy than usual, yet the water still remained unheated.

Nonetheless, it had at least started to thaw slightly.

With great care, Hei Dan dripped the hard-earned water onto Jiujiu's lips.

Jiujiu's mouth had become incredibly dry, even cracking with chapped skin.

Gently touching Jiujiu's lips, the little monster hoped that Jiujiu would open his mouth. Otherwise... the water they had struggled to melt would freeze again before Jiujiu could drink it.

"Jiujiu, open your mouth!" The little monster shifted upward, sitting beside Jiujiu's head. He whispered to his uncle, though Ji Huan couldn't hear him anymore.

Tormented by anguish, his consciousness sank into an endless abyss of darkness.

With no other choice, the little monster attempted to pry Jiujiu's mouth open.

After much effort, it seemed that Jiujiu's teeth were finally loosening. Just as Jiujiu's lips parted once more, a glimmer of hope illuminated the little monster's vision. He was about to swiftly administer more water when suddenly—

Ji Huan's mouth was filled with blood!

In that instant when the little monster had used its finger to part his lips, the pent-up pain and blood could no longer be contained. A spray of blood erupted from Ji Huan's mouth.

Bearing the agony, he had already bitten his inner cheeks until they bled profusely. Initially, he had instinctively clenched his jaws tightly, but now, under the incessant kneading of Black Egg's tiny paws, a small gap had opened, allowing the blood to spill uncontrollably.

Ji Huan's head drooped heavily. The moment the blood spurted out, it seemed that he had expended his last ounce of strength. All signs of struggle ceased, and his joints loosened as he sprawled flat on the bed.

Black Egg was utterly terrified!

"Jiujiu! Jiujiu!" The little monster cried out loudly, believing he had injured Jiujiu. Swiftly pulling back the covers, he leaped off the bed and dashed out, seeking Grandpa at top speed.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!" The little monster shouted while running, oblivious to the biting cold outside.

Silence reigned, save for the faint echoes of the young monster's voice bouncing off the surroundings. He ran tirelessly until he collided forcefully with an object.

The little monster picked himself up from the ground and was once again stunned as he recognized what he had hit - it was a goat-horned monster, now frozen into an icy sculpture.

Maintaining the posture of battling against the wind, with firewood still clutched in its hands, the goat-horned monster was frozen mid-journey back home.

"Grandpa Ah..."

The little monster stood frozen.

In the midst of the snowstorm, a tiny sixty-centimeter-tall monster struggled forward, braving the harsh winds.

Since Gua Gua had been left with Jiujiu to watch over him, the responsibility of taking Grandpa Ah back fell solely on this young monster's shoulders.

He was too small to carry the much larger Grandpa Ah on his back, so he resorted to dragging him along.

Utilizing all the handkerchiefs and scarves he had, the little monster transformed the firewood Grandpa Ah had gathered into a makeshift sled. Tying the scarves and handkerchiefs together into a rope, he dragged the sled forward.

Grandpa Ah lay on that makeshift sled.

"Jiujiu," he called softly, addressing the entity by its nickname.

When his grandfather fell, he instinctively sought Jiujiu's aid, but remembering its previous state, the young monster immediately clamped his lips shut.

Large tears rolled down his cheeks, which he wiped away with the back of his hand.

He had removed his gloves, barely fitting them over his grandfather's two fingers.

The heavy snowfall had concealed the path he had taken earlier, but fortunately, his memory was sharper than most young monsters. He knew where to find Jiujiu.

Struggling through the snowstorm, the young monster persevered.

Just as he managed to drag his grandfather back to where Jiujiu was, he spotted the enormous Nigadi lying in the courtyard.

It was Little Bai.

Back when they had disembarked, Little Bai had resolutely followed them, flying down together. The frigid weather was even too much for this ice-born magical beast to endure.

"Little Bai," Hei Dan called out softly.

With immense effort, he finally managed to pull Ah Ye into the house and covered him with one of the blankets, revealing the motionless Little Green underneath. Glancing aside, he saw Big Bai and Ailuo Ka, both frozen like statues.

Using every ounce of strength he had left, he dragged Ah Ye to the window and then pulled Little Bai as close to the shelter as possible. After that, he was utterly exhausted.

Jiujiu was now the only person in the house who hadn't turned into an ice sculpture.

But Jiujiu's condition was dire, very dire.

Huddled in Jiujiu's embrace, Hei Dan wept uncontrollably.

"Ajin..."

"Please come back..."

Whispering Ah Jin's name in a tiny voice, he anxiously awaited his return.

As the little monster nervously and fearfully waited, the sky outside the window gradually darkened.

The wind grew stronger, howling against the roof and causing the walls to shudder, as if they might collapse under the weight of the snow and wind at any moment.

Right at that moment...

The little monster suddenly emerged from under the blanket.

With reddened eyes and a string of frozen snot dangling from his nose, he lifted his head abruptly.

"Ajin?"

Accompanied by an almost imperceptible trace of a familiar scent, the little monster noticed that the sky outside the window had turned pitch black.

It was so dark that one couldn't see their own fingers.

The world had plunged into darkness.

Grasping the antique flashlight that Jiujiu had repaired for him from his backpack, Hei Dan gently jumped off the bed, bypassing Ajin and the sleeping Nigadi. He rushed outside, sensing Ajin's presence! Ajin was...

Here to pick them up?

The little monster pushed the door open with force. He didn't see Ajin, but in the darkness, he spotted a luminous, human-shaped figure.

A colossal feathered wing met a bony one as that "person" turned towards him. Upon catching sight of the little monster, the entire visage of that creature contorted in rage.

The surrounding darkness seemed to warp, and the creature's mouth opened, emitting not a sound audible to ordinary monsters, but a terrifying sonic wave!

In theory, such a wave should have been inaudible to normal monsters, yet, in this moment, the little monster, flashlight in hand, clearly heard the "voice" of the other.

It was a monstrous roar filled with unparalleled fury and madness.

As the "person" darted towards him like a bolt of light, the little monster stared in terror and quickly slammed the door shut.