Chapter 99.2 Crimson Sunset Expedition
Just as Wen Shi was about to continue forward, his hem was suddenly tugged. When he turned back, he only heard the teenager whisper, “The Evolution Potion, is it really that incredible… Will it work if used by humans?”
Wen Shi paused for a moment, understanding what he was getting at. “Your little grandma can already control you quite well. If you give her even more intelligence…”
He didn’t finish the rest of the sentence. The teenager had already shivered at the thought and immediately dismissed the idea.
Yu Xingzhou and Li Nan’s focus had never shifted. Li Nan scanned the map and said, “If we avoid the Evolution Potion route, we need to take the first left at the first intersection.”
Wen Shi had the teenager give a vial of the tranquilizer to Li Nan while they kept one for themselves, in case of a special situation where one of them got cornered and the other needed to intervene in time.
The current state of the second underground floor seemed devoid of explorers, and the unsettling quietness was eerie.
Song Yan swallowed incessantly, trying to breathe only through his mouth. The air was thick with the scent of blood, even more pungent and overpowering than the odors he had encountered in the operating room earlier.
The path they were currently taking resembled a big tree, with many offshoots, but overall it was manageable. Unlike the upper floor, the second underground floor didn’t have the same coherence. The pathways connected in various directions, and many routes were short enough to see from end to end at a glance.
Along each pathway were small rooms, lacking doors, and filled with iron barrels. Wen Shi picked one to enter and inspect. The barrels were filled with bloody brains.
Standing at the doorway, Song Yan voiced his impression, “Seems like it’s convenient for something to feed here.”
Stepping back out, the scent of blood made Wen Shi a bit dizzy, but he continued forward.
The small group utilized the strengths of each member to the fullest. Li Nan led the way, followed by Yu Xingzhou. As they turned a corner, Li Nan suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The off-white walls and ceiling disappeared, replaced by a layer of dark red membrane. It wasn’t smooth, with many oval-shaped flesh masses resembling polyps hanging from the membrane’s side, about the size of a baby’s fist.
Li Nan was quite bold. He walked directly into the area covered by the membrane, shining his flashlight on one of the flesh masses.
It wasn’t as repulsive as one might imagine. It looked more like a… cocoon.
Almost unanimously, the same thought came to the minds of everyone present.
Layers of red filaments wound around the flesh masses, giving them an oddly soft appearance.
Li Nan extended his hand to touch it. He resisted the tingling sensation on his scalp and didn’t remove his fingertips. After a moment, his face turned slightly pale, “Memories.”
“Hmm?”
Li Nan: “When I touched the cocoon, a few blurry memory flashes appeared.”
They were memories from some werewolf or half-beast.
Wen Shi also entered the area covered by the membrane, casually getting close to a cocoon, and suggested a speculation, “After the monster consumes brains, it forms a cocoon.”
However, it could be felt that the cocoon was shrinking, and it would likely disappear again after a while.
He paused. “This should be the brain monster the notification mentioned.”
His brain nerves twitched subtly. Wen Shi sensed that a small portion of his own memories was also being absorbed. A shade of darkness flickered in his eyes, “Hurry up, this thing also feeds on human memories when it’s not consuming brains.”
They had come this far, with no talk of giving up. In silence, the group proceeded deeper into the crimson depths.
After walking a bit more, even the floor tiles disappeared. With each step, they sank into the fleshy mass. As they continued forward, the mud-like substance filled the gaps between the soles of their shoes.
The air grew thicker, and the increasingly intense smell of blood signaled their approach to the core of the monster. Song Yan dared not look at his muddied pants, while the teenager remained calm, even quipping, “Do we look like we’re walking into the monster’s stomach?”
They wondered how the creature would react to this served-up midnight snack.
Wen Shi pondered for a few seconds and replied, “Then it depends on whether the brain monster has achieved a seamless integration of its digestive and cerebral systems.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding fleshy walls began to writhe violently. The elastic membranes from all sides pressed inward, capable of suffocating and dissolving someone.
Wen Shi’s expression turned serious, “Use the tranquilizer!”
The world spun, and they felt as if they were a lone boat tossed in a stormy sea. The teenager struggled to keep his balance, almost falling into the muck. He swiftly took out the tranquilizer. The instructions weren’t detailed, so he roughly poked a hole with a steel pipe, pouring the solution inside.
Other than the intense tremor caused by the pipe’s poke, everyone was thrown off balance. A few seconds after the tranquilizer was administered, the storm finally ceased, and everything around them began to calm down.
This time, without needing any reminders, everyone scrambled to their feet and sprinted forward at top speed. They had used up one dose of tranquilizer and needed to get the key before its effects wore off. The remaining tranquilizer had to be saved for the return journey.
While running, the teenager cast a glance at Wen Shi.
Wen Shi knew what he was thinking—about the distribution of the key’s ownership after obtaining it.
The teenager casually said, “Don’t go through all that effort for nothing, ending up making a wedding gown for someone else.”
The key held no allure for him. However, if he had to choose, the teenager still hoped the key would end up in Wen Shi’s hands rather than the other two.
Wen Shi wasn’t bothered by this matter at all.
The most challenging part of dealing with the brain monster was over. Escaping from the fourth-floor operating room alive was nearly impossible. They had relied on some luck, his【Doctor】identity, and the leniency of the goat-headed security guard to make their way through relatively smoothly.
Given the level of difficulty, the tranquilizer was the optimal way to deal with the brain monster. There wouldn’t be more hurdles to overcome. However, the game wouldn’t easily let go of opportunities to torment players. Considering everything in this instance, Wen Shi had no doubt that the time for making choices would come again soon.
From the moment they got off the train until now, the process of making choices had been carried through consistently. This unconventional consistency made him want to curse.
The further they went, the heavier the humidity became. Tiny droplets of blood condensed on the deep red membranes.
When the air’s humidity reached a point where breathing almost became impossible, they had to stop running and adjust their pace to walk slowly forward.
Right now, Wen Shi was desperately craving oxygen.
His body took a logical step by taking a deep breath, but the result was the stench of blood rushing into his lungs, almost making him faint.
While he was still trying to adapt to the current environment, Li Nan and Yu Xingzhou had already halted their steps ahead.
Wen Shi, who had been solely focused on moving forward, nearly bumped into one of them. He stopped just in time and looked up.
In the deepest part of the fleshy membrane, countless intricate veins converged onto a rather exquisite ancient mirror. Inside the mirror, the entire Sunset Town was visible. Numerous gemstones were embedded around the mirror’s frame. Wen Shi’s sharp eyes caught sight of one gemstone that appeared slightly dimmer, standing out oddly among the surrounding decorations.
He immediately thought about the gemstones embedded on the key to exit the instance.
This mirror seemed to be the brain monster’s heart. It relied on it to survive.
The key might be right in front of them, but nobody approached it, because standing next to that mirror was a person.
Song Yan exclaimed in surprise, “Miss Tour Guide.”
Her distinctive and stylish silver hair was attention-grabbing in any setting.
However, when the person raised her head, Song Yan became less certain. The tour guide wouldn’t completely show her emotions on her face in daily situations, but she didn’t have such an enigmatic aura either.
Wen Shi’s eyes tightened, and he instinctively blurted out, “True spirit.”
Song Yan didn’t quite understand.
The ‘tour guide’ moved her fingers slightly, and a few blood-red cocoons appeared in front of everyone except the teenager.
Within these cocoons were small fragments of memories absorbed by the brain monster during the time the players had journeyed here.
The true spirit simply touch the cocoons across the room and give them back to them. As players subconsciously reached out to grasp the cocoons, many fragments of memories resurfaced in their minds and deepened.
“In my view, compared to organs, memories constitute a person’s essence.” Despite being some of the most terrifying entities in the game, the voice of this true spirit was unusually calm, carrying only a hint of unattainability.
He created many species, such as earworms, little lightflies… But what he truly aimed for was the memory-stealing monster.
Wen Shi understood in an instant, “These lightflies can be transferred from one person to another. You believe memories can be too.”
The true spirit nodded slightly, “Unfortunately, stealing memories is easy, but preserving and transplanting them is difficult.”
Li Nan had a gut feeling that something was off. “True spirit” was synonymous with horror and arrogance. There was no reason they’d engage in a straightforward question-and-answer session.
“My core entity isn’t here. This mirror is just a part of my origin.” It was as if the true spirit could read everyone’s inner thoughts. As he spoke, the ordinary face of the tour guide took on an unusual hue. The true spirit smiled, “So, my temperament is still relatively good.”
Everyone’s attention was fixed on the true spirit, except for Song Yan. He curiously examined the cocoon the size of a fingernail in his hand, which, when touched, showed scenes from the train.
Compared to the others’, his situation seemed noticeably abnormal.
Song Yan whispered, “Is it because I entered the instance for a short time?”
Wen Shi avoided the question. When he met the true spirit’s gaze, sharp pain immediately struck his temples. So, he averted his eyes and got straight to the point, “How can we obtain the key?”
“Choose.”
With that one word, Wen Shi resisted the urge to press his temples.
The true spirit first turned to Song Yan. “I’ll give you two choices. Your origins are extraordinary. I can tell you the truth and activate a powerful transformation for you, or you can choose to have this key.”
Almost instinctively, Song Yan asked, “Once I have the key, can I give it to someone?”
He noticed the boss seemed quite determined to get it.
The atmosphere turned dreadfully quiet for a moment. Song Yan instinctively shrank his neck, unsure if he had said something wrong.
After a pause, Wen Shi softly advised, “Choose the first one.”
Having the key held no meaning for Song Yan.
Though confused, Song Yan followed Wen Shi’s suggestion, “I choose the truth and the transformation.”
The true spirit gave him a deep look.
Suddenly, Song Yan realized something. Everyone was deliberately avoiding the true spirit’s gaze, except for himself. In Song Yan’s judgment, the others’ reason for avoiding wasn’t fear.
“You are one of my incarnations.”
In just a few words, Song Yan’s mind went blank.
His comprehension wasn’t poor, especially considering the literal meaning of that sentence revealed a lot of information.
Song Yan’s breathing became rapid. Was the true spirit implying that he wasn’t an independent individual?
Impossible. He had a happy family and a decent job. Song Yan remembered falling asleep on a bus during a work trip, and when he woke up, he was already on the train. As he thought about it, his expression grew more and more distressed. He finally realized the issue—every time he tried to explore a memory, there were gaps and errors. For example, he was surprised to find that he couldn’t remember what his parents looked like.
“I’m a surgeon.” The words sounded absurd even to him. After witnessing these bizarre experiments in the cosmetic surgery clinic, he didn’t instinctively empathize with the patients from a surgeon’s perspective or condemn the behavior.
Ignoring Song Yan’s pale face, the true spirit glanced past Wen Shi and directly focused on Yu Xingzhou.
“Your memories are somewhat interesting. You come from an influential family and had an accident-prone older brother. After the accident, you gave up your studies and rushed back to take charge. However, your family, including your gullible mother, believed the rumor that you were vying for the family inheritance, and plotted against you.” the true spirit plainly stated the harsh reality, “It wasn’t until later that you found out that the renowned surgeon you had arranged, as well as the health supplements you sent, were all scrutinized and tested by them.”
Yu Xingzhou stood calmly in his place, but his thoughts seemed to drift back three years ago. At that time, he had just exhaustedly handled a business matter when he received a call from home saying his mother had fallen ill. By the time he rushed to the hospital, his weakened mother was holding his hand, attempting to speak several times but hesitating.
“Xiao Zhou, what is it that you truly want… you can directly tell us….”
In that moment, he understood something, as if falling into an icy cave.
The true spirit added, “I’ll give you two choices as well—choose the key or the elixir.”
Yu Xingzhou’s fingers stiffened as he asked, “What elixir?”
“Your older brother’s injury is related to the cranial nerves, which is a specialized field here. What’s most abundant here are medications for brain treatments,” the true spirit calmly explained, “The things from this world can’t be taken to your side, but there’s a way to use the medication as a medium.”
Yu Xingzhou, being exceptionally clever, immediately understood his intention—using the elixir came at the cost of entering the game as a player. Not long ago, he had used a similar excuse to meet Wen Shi and discuss the cost Wen Shi would be willing to bear to be drawn into the game.
Half a minute passed, and he didn’t give an answer.
“Why the silence?” the true spirit smiled, “Based on your memories, your brother was always saying that it’s better to die than to live like this. I believe if this choice were in front of him, he wouldn’t hesitate to enter this world.”
However, what would happen after entering was a different story.
Blaming others was what humans liked to do most.
Wen Shi frowned.
Choosing the key would mean Yu Xingzhou would live uneasily, while choosing the elixir would mark the beginning of another tragedy.
Unable to resist, he interjected, “You only have one key. What if we all choose it?”
The true spirit tried every means to put Wen Shi in a difficult position, yet at the same time, he showed him an unusual tolerance. If it were someone else, speaking so bluntly in this tone would undoubtedly come at a hefty price.
“Don’t forget what my essence is.”
The mirror was best at duplicating things. If he wished, he could even give everyone a key.
However, to leave the game, one needed to collect three different keys. Even if the true spirit were to directly give one person all three keys, it wouldn’t work.
Yu Xingzhou finally spoke again, “Does the elixir really work?”
“Of course, it’s not like it’s some terminal illness.”
Whether it was Yu Xingzhou’s misconception or not, there was a faint touch of sorrow in the true spirit’s tone when mentioning a terminal illness.
Yu Xingzhou didn’t hesitate much, “I choose the elixir.”
The true spirit wasn’t surprised by his choice. The heavy gaze finally settled on Wen Shi.
“Your foster father…” the true spirit’s tone hesitated for the first time, “Many of the ‘monsters’, as humans called them, are hoping for his return.”
Wanting to reverse life and death without understanding the concept of life and death itself is a tragedy in its own right.
The teenager remembered what Wen Shi had said in the elevator and the experiment of transplanting a dead person’s brain into a living body. He suddenly turned his head.
Wen Shi calmly asked, “You took my father’s brain, didn’t you?”
The true spirit didn’t respond.
Wen Shi: “You want to resurrect him within me.”
His chilling statement made everyone’s gazes tremble as they looked at him, not understanding how he arrived at such a conclusion.
The true spirit merely smiled without saying a word.
Just as Wen Shi thought the silence would continue, the true spirit spoke, “I will honor his wish, but I can’t say the same for some entities. I can tell you where all the sources of danger you’ll face in the future are, and how to deal with them. Do you want to know these things or do you want the key?”
“The key.” Surprisingly, Wen Shi didn’t hesitate for even a second.
The air grew quiet once again.
Song Yan, who had initially struggled to accept the reality, suddenly felt that his situation wasn’t so unfortunate after hearing Yu Xingzhou’s story. And Yu Xingzhou, who had just made his choice, upon hearing what Wen Shi was about to go through, strangely felt that his own experience… wasn’t that bad after all.
Between the two sides, the true spirit was always the first to speak. He said just one sentence, “Your luck is your greatest misfortune.”
Wen Shi gave a perfunctory “Mhm, mhm.”
His expression seemed to say, “Message received, key, give me quickly.”
Observing this, Song Yan couldn’t help but think, should he also become stronger like the boss? Maybe set a small goal like embodying the devourer himself?
Yes, fight fire with fire!
His spirits lifted.
Almost in the instant this thought arose, a highly dangerous gaze swept over. Song Yan instinctively moved behind Wen Shi to hide.
Observing this, the true spirit seemed to think of something. The intensity of their gaze lessened a bit, and with a casual flick of their hand, two keys flew toward Wen Shi and Li Nan simultaneously.
Wen Shi silently stored the items away in a safe, glancing at the time in passing. His thoughts were solely focused on the task ahead.
The true spirit narrowed their eyes slightly, “You don’t care about any of this at all?”
Wen Shi, who was forced into a pitiful situation, shrugged.
At home, there were Big Sister, Little Brother, son, and Grandma. He also had a somewhat inept shadow, a mini octopus by his side and Song Yan as his devoted fanboy. In the past, there was the guidance and support of his father all along the way. Recently, a few new friends have been made.
Ultimately, he remained composed and said, “Thank you for the invitation. A harmonious family with both relatives and friends makes for a promising future.”
On the other hand, after catching the key, Li Nan questioned skeptically, “I don’t need to make a choice?”
The true spirit had an expressionless face, “You’re just too ordinary.”
Li Nan: “……”
Without a tragic background, no family misfortunes, and no rocky road ahead, he was quite unworthy, indeed.
If you enjoy this novel, support the Translator ginevre on her ko-fi account :))
