Matryoshka Off-Limits Chapter 68

Chapter 68.1 Crazy Love Season

Wen Shi was completely oblivious to the viewers’ anger or the demon’s frustration.

He was in a complete state of forgetfulness now, disconnected from the joys and sorrows of others.

“Why hate?” he even asked the demon in return.

The demon, even with the ability to rewind time, couldn’t alter the past. Any slight change in course would just disappear instantly. So, it had to stick to the original path, adding some unimportant details, tempting its prey into agreeing to a deal during their toughest times, and then collecting their soul after they left the rewind.

Two cuts had already reached the limit. The demon couldn’t cause more serious harm. Instead, the knife’s tip gently skimmed the skin, leaving behind thin lines of blood.

It knew well how to make people suffer. Not only were children’s spirits fragile, they also lacked strength. Worried about going too far, it chose the most straightforward method: a small knife to graze the skin.

This ensured the person could feel the pain, and surface wounds wouldn’t be life-threatening for a while.

“Does it hurt a lot?” the scarecrow laughed. “Your loving parents are figuring out how to speak in front of the public, aiming to gather more sympathy. They are the cause of your pain…”

Speaking, the sharp edge of the blade left another long, thin scratch on his back.

It hurt a lot.

But he didn’t have the strength to shout again.

Wen Shi’s face turned pale, beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. He struggled briefly, then weakly slumped back onto the ground. Before the expected stabbing pain struck again, Wen Shi’s heart suddenly pounded hard. Even though it was under the dark bed, he could clearly see an eye.

It was an eyeball enclosed in a vial, with a faint trace of solemnity, gazing at him.

During the eye contact, the solemnity disappeared. The big eyeball seemed to flicker, a shiver-inducing dark glint in its depths, as if trying to ignite a hidden crimson fire, silently burning everything.

“You are…”

Unknown fear was replaced by confusion.

Wen Shi really wanted to ask it what it was angry about.

His soft, limp body lay motionless on the ground, provoking the demon once more. This time, the sharp knife barely grazed his neck skin when the scarecrow suddenly experienced a sensation of being burned.

His hand trembled, causing the blade to miss its mark. Strangely, his wrist went limp, and with a thud, the knife fell to the ground.

Accompanying this sound was the faint rolling of the vial.

After a couple of movements under the bed, the vial suddenly lost the large eyeball inside.

A black dot flew over, too fast to see clearly. Before the scarecrow could react, instinct made it cover its empty eye sockets. Something seemed to slip into the pitch-black holes. Meanwhile, another force infiltrated through the dense straw gaps. By the time it snapped back to reality, it found itself involuntarily cradling the bloodied child.

What in the world had possessed it?!

Amid the battle for control over its body, the scarecrow desperately managed to ignite a fire. Just as someone had set fire to the past in the timeline, it had to follow suit and set this place ablaze.

It felt scorching, incredibly hot.

Dealing with the clash of two distinct consciousnesses inside its body was already uncomfortable, and now it had to endure the very thing it detested the most: fire.

The bedsheet and mattress caught fire swiftly. The desk, textbooks… remnants of the room’s inhabitant turned to ashes in the flames. Wen Shi’s light-colored pupils glowed from the fire’s light. He closed his eyes, refusing to witness it any longer.

The scarecrow leapt out of the window while holding the child.

In the street, even the stray cats had grown tired of meowing, but the drunkard continued to curse. Suddenly, the drunkard rubbed his eyes and, across the street, saw someone dressed in raincoat holding a bloodied child. That person stumbled and staggered while walking, even less steady than the drunkard himself.

The child was tossed near a trash bin. The drunkard hesitated for a moment, but the area’s notorious disorderliness sobered him up a bit. He decided to head back home.

Beside the trash bin, the scarecrow bent over in agony, feeling like his head was about to explode.

What in the world had happened? What was invading its consciousness?

The program viewers were truly baffled. They mistook this pain for sympathy, thinking that the demon had malfunctioned on the other side of the Ghost Gate and showed its soft side after coming out. They believed it was sympathizing with the child!

“Go away, just go…”

Get out of my body.

The scream that wouldn’t come out was like Wen Shi’s feeble cries for his parents when he tried to escape. Finally, the scarecrow couldn’t take it anymore. It dashed towards the other end of the street, attempting to shake off the parasitic entity invading its body.

The path of the scarecrow was followed by the【Paranormal Time Drone】, and Wen Shi temporarily escaped the audience’s view.

The official website of “Crazy Love Season” was flooded with messages:

“Did it glitch?”

“Stupid thing, we’re waiting for the confrontation between the guest and the demon. At the very least, film the guest if you can’t do anything else.”

“This is ridiculous! I’m about to be driven crazy. Originally, seeing the guest bleed might’ve calmed me down a bit. Who wants to pay to see a demon suddenly drop its weapon?! Terrible show, just shut down already.”

……

The drunkard left, the demon left, and even the stray cats jumped behind another wall.

The whole alley fell into silence.

A large cluster of drifting clouds passed, obscuring the moon in the sky. In the quiet and lonely alley, the last remaining source of light vanished.

Suddenly, the old and broken streetlight not far away made a sizzling sound, as if it had a short circuit. Then, with a snap, the streetlight actually lit up. In the flickering light, a figure appeared out of thin air.

The ground’s pooled water reflected an unkempt figure—a man with a scruffy beard, dressed in a white coat. Despite having a well-built and muscular body, he coughed incessantly like a consumptive, but overall, he was definitely a handsome middle-aged man.

His speech wasn’t exactly proper. Once he stood firm, he began cursing with a few choice words, “Finally collected all these damn keys.”

After a brief pause, he said irritably, “Trashy game, I’ve cleared it. Didn’t it say that players will get a fresh start after clearing?!”

The man had a terminal illness. Entering the game a few years ago as one of the earliest players, he had persisted relentlessly and finally completed the game.

Gamers from over a decade ago knew that clearing the game granted you a wish.

The first rule in the “Virtual World Guide” explicitly mentioned this, but after several revisions, by the time Wen Shi and his peers got their hands on it, the latest version had omitted this rule.

A cold mechanical voice answered his question, “Your new life is right across.”

The handsome middle-aged man paused, noticing the bloodied child by the trash bin. He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Your current body is beyond saving. I have no authority to create a new life in the real world. However, there’s another option,” the game replied. “It’s the parallel version of you in another world. I can help you enter his body and embrace a new life. Afterwards, I’ll arrange for the rewards from clearing the game—wealth, status—to be delivered to you gradually.”

The handsome middle-aged man fell silent for a moment, subconsciously patting his pocket. He had forgotten he’d just come out and hadn’t bought cigarettes yet. After a brief pause, he sneered, “Damn, thought I hit the jackpot. Turns out there’s no free lunches from the sky.”

All the hard work and years he’d spent in the game were in vain. If he had known, he’d rather have spent that time exploring mountains and rivers.

The handsome middle-aged man walked directly across the road, waving his hand backward.

The game knew this man’s ways too well. It understood what he meant—get lost.

The game, which never interfered with others’ choices, spoke again for some reason, “You don’t have much time left. That child is fated to be an ominous lone star, orphaned young, no fortune, and a tough path ahead.”

If fate had written a fortune slip, it surely would have been an unfavorable one.

The handsome middle-aged man halted. The game thought he might change his mind, but then he said, “Then help me add a bit of luck.”

The game: “The wish granted upon clearing can’t be altered.”

The handsome middle-aged man paused briefly. “How about a bet? You must be curious why I’d give up this lifeline. Truth is, there’s a difference between being human and being an animal. Let’s bet on the aspect of humanity that you least believe in and enjoy toying with.”

As the first player to clear the game, the man was the only one qualified to have an equal conversation with the game.

This time, the new game fell silent. After a moment, the mechanical voice resounded again, “What’s the bet?”

“In the future, let this child meet his parallel self from other worlds. Let him make a choice. You’re free to set the rules for how the process plays out,” the handsome middle-aged man said slowly. “But there’s one rule that I’ll establish.”

The handsome middle-aged man whispered a few more words. Finally, he said, “The bet is open in Sealed Coffin Village. That place has been badly affected by my actions. If this kid is capable, he can clean up the mess while he’s at it.”

The mechanical voice didn’t reply, but under the streetlight, a mysterious-looking amulet appeared.

This indicated the game agreed to the bet.

The mechanical voice didn’t resound again. It seemed like the game had departed.

“Damn, can’t you at least give directions? Where’s the clinic?” A cold wind swept by, shattering the man’s composed image in an instant. He scolded with more harshness than the drunkard before him.

A slip of paper floated down gently, providing the location of the nearest operating clinic.

In the alley, the smell of garbage mingled together, and the air was filled with the stench of decay and dirt. The child fought to keep his eyes open. If he had to die, he hoped the last thing he’d see before it happened would be the starry sky.

Unfortunately, the sky above was covered in pitch-black leaden clouds.

Having lost too much blood, Wen Shi’s lips were dry, and everything appeared blurry to him.

… So sleepy.

Just a quick nap, just a short while. As he was about to close his eyes, a shadow descended upon him. Wen Shi was lifted up by a pair of large hands.

“Hold onto this.” The newcomer’s voice was deep and low, placing an amulet into Wen Shi’s tender palm.

Wen Shi instinctively gripped it. It was something cold, seemingly made of jade.

“You…” His lips moved with difficulty. “What do you want?”

Not asking who, not asking why, just inquiring about what the other person wanted.

Wen Shi racked his brain, trying to uncover if there was anything valuable on him that someone might covet.

“I do a good deed each day,” the handsome middle-aged man said after briefly stemming the bleeding. Holding him, he headed toward the clinic. “As for what I want, you can start doing good deeds too.”

In a nearby self-built house, a couple entered the room at the appointed time. The room was empty, with no charred body inside.

“Where is he?” The guilt was shattered by shock. Wei Yue’s beautiful face looked grim in the firelight.

She had initially planned to take a bit of damage, acting out a scene of desperately trying to save her child.

The fire grew larger, and Pei Hongxin gritted his teeth. “Let’s get out first.”

The self-built house turned into a sea of flames, billowing black smoke rising to the sky. However, at the same time, the clouds in the sky gradually dispersed. At the end of the street, moonlight stretched infinitely, capturing the figure of the man carrying the child as they left, until they disappeared around the corner.

…

Some were saved, while others met misfortune.

The demon was on the verge of madness.

Its proudest possession was this straw body. It faced limited restrictions, and it could even squeeze out during the opening of the Ghost Gate.

Little did the demon know that the big eyeball liked its body too. Any shell with flesh and blood, like humans or ordinary physical monsters, couldn’t bear contaminants. However, without a physical form, it couldn’t possess them.

The appearance of the scarecrow was like someone handing it a pillow just as it started dozing off.

Originally, this eye’s power weakened further during the rewind. However, upon witnessing Wen Shi’s abuse, it was truly enraged. It managed to break free from the vial using its strength, and rushed into the straw demon’s body. Its speed was even hundreds of times faster than A’Sang’s, beyond the reach of the【Paranormal Time Drone】.

The straw demon really wanted to return to the trash bin, taking advantage of the moment when its prey’s consciousness further dissipated, luring the other party into a deal. However, the sensation of intrusion into its body only allowed it to stay alert through the cold wind it encountered during its sprint.

A voice resonated in the mind—

“Think about it, what will you face once you leave this place?”

The demon subconsciously pondered this question. The audience beyond the Ghost Gate didn’t care about what had happened. They only cared about venting their pent-up frustration from these past two days.

Clearly, not only had it failed to satisfy those viewers, but it also made things worse.

Now that the Ghost Gate was open, the fury of the ghosts and demons, unable to be vented, would undoubtedly be directed elsewhere.

Thinking about this, the demon couldn’t help but shudder.

It was this small shiver of fear that made the big eyeball embed itself further into the deep socket.

“De-demon,” the straw demon’s mouth gaped wide, the wounds on its face growing larger.

The one infiltrating his consciousness was the true demon! A single sentence cracked the psychological defenses it had set up.

Moonlight seemed to avoid the demon, letting it struggle in pain in the darkness. The big eyeball had gained the upper hand and could finish it off in a single blow.

But this eye continued to inflict wounds on the demon, indifferent to the fact that it would soon occupy a body filled with injuries. It aimed to make the demon’s consciousness completely scatter, to personally experience the agony of having its skin sliced open before it dissolved.

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