Yang Zicang and Chang Yang exchanged glances, their hearts filled with hesitation.
From the sudden upheaval to this moment, aside from Xiaoyu, the remaining lifespans of the others had already run thin.
–We…–
No one could say exactly how many years they had left; perhaps in the next second, their life would end.
–Investment yields returns. If you defeat this nightmare terror, 30% of its Chronos will be repaid to you according to your investment ratio,– Bai Yuan said.
A few of them exchanged looks.
–I’ll invest thirty years!– the girl bit her silver teeth and made her investment.
She had grown to utterly despise that middle-aged Mediterranean man.
If it hadn’t been for the person beside her just now, she would likely have been dead. Only at this moment did she reluctantly accept that lifespan, too, was a form of capital, and thus directly invested the minimum time needed for everyone to break through the window.
That way, she could claim to have participated in the battle as well.
–Good, that’s courageous.–
A feedback emerged in Mu Xiaoyu’s mind—her lifespan had decreased by thirty years.
It was an incredibly wondrous ability, as if she naturally knew how events had transpired.
Her appearance rapidly grew fresh and full, then gradually withered to a sallow, dark state, with a few crow’s feet appearing at her eyes.
Mu Xiaoyu pinned her hopes on this man with the strange name, at least for now, he hadn’t made a direct move to take her life.
From an additional perspective, the girl could –see– that her lifespan had been directly reduced by thirty years, though she was unclear about the exact amount remaining. She had only a vague sense that about ten or twenty years were left.
In this same perspective, Yang Zicang also saw that his own lifespan was approximately ten or so years.
–I’ll offer five years. Sorry, but I’ve already used up a lot of my lifespan,– Yang Zicang said.
–I’ll offer three years.–
–You guys are impressive. It seems I don’t have much longer to live, so I’ll just…–
Liu Ming was about to refuse, but Bai Yuan laughed and said, –You can offer a month.–
–Alright, a month it is.–
As the black mist of the nightmare drew ever closer, the geometric lines on the man’s body suddenly stretched and extended endlessly, reaching into the void, leading to places far beyond.
Yang Zicang could see the light on the man in the trench coat growing increasingly intense. Countless tiny specks of light were converging into the star emblem on his chest—people from other places were –investing– in him.
He wondered where those people were. It seemed this strange city housed many others just like him.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, the man stepped forward, his body turning into a blur as he charged into the alley. Beyond, over twenty meters away, the wall of a residential building was smashed open by a bus-like monster, with black mist spewing from its twisted, gaping maw.
–Haha, another one coming to throw his life away!–
At this moment, Director Huang, inside the vehicle, has gone on a killing spree, and in his eyes, humans are nothing more than opponents he can defeat in one move.
Director Huang’s heart surges with excitement, thinking to himself: That man across the way, seeing his own child, feels no fear at all—doesn’t this bastard realize that I am already the –god– of this land now?
–Devour him, he must Live a long life, ha!–
BOOM!
Bai Yuan swings his right arm and throws a punch. His massive fist, wrapped in a silver-gleaming light, collides with the vehicle, producing a deafening crash—the commotion is astonishing.
The bus nightmare comes to an abrupt halt, its forward momentum shattered.
–How terrifying! That man actually stopped the bus with just his fist!– says Old Man Chang Yang, panting heavily beside Yang Zicang.
The bus’s headlights flicker with an eerie glow, and the ground around it quickly turns semi-transparent.
–Ha, so you still possess an ability like this.– Bai Yuan glances at the ground, his figure shifting as he steps back a few paces.
He brings his hands together, then abruptly pulls them apart. A shimmer of starlight flickers between his palms, and an energy force field is drawn out, standing upright in front of him.
The spreading semi-transparent ground is blocked by this force field.
–He seems really powerful, he can even create a shield of light.–
Yang Zicang and the others continued to sprint forward; staying behind would only get them killed without being of any real help.
Yet within his field of perception, he could still naturally sense the scene where Bai Yuan was, and through this inexplicable connection, he could observe the details of the battle from afar.
However, aside from those initial moves where he managed to block the opponent, Bai Yuan didn’t seem to have the upper hand overall.
–Even though it’s quite a commotion, Bai Yuan seems to be struggling.–
–Maybe he’s just testing the waters.–
In the mental perception’s vision, the originally narrow alley looked as if a bomb had detonated, with walls collapsing into a crater sunk into the ground.
Bai Yuan’s imposing figure, relying on his force field, steadily advanced, closing the distance with the bus monster step by step, until upon reaching it, he raised his hand to strike with an energy spike.
His force field could neutralize the monster’s arcane energy.
Inside the bus, Huang Hsu’s figure roared, while scarlet lines erupted from his chest as the monster bus emitted constantly flashing energy phantoms that collided with Bai Yuan.
The skin of those inside the vehicle and the skin of the one striking from outside visibly matured before their eyes.
Yang Zicang saw that the tiny, dense points of light within Bai Yuan’s chest were rapidly dwindling, like a dam bursting.
–How terrifying, how much of their lifespan did they consume?–
–This damned world, damn it, am I still trapped in a nightmare? He actually stopped the car with his bare hands!–
–I hope it’s just a nightmare too.– The girl opened her eyes wide in tension, staring behind her.
She worried that Bai Yuan might lose; if that happened, she and the others probably wouldn’t survive either.
She couldn’t help thinking, if only that person who had warned everyone earlier in the car would show up to help, but who knew how many years of life he’d demand—since he’d asked for fifty years just for telling them how to get off the bus.
–Those geometric patterns on him are amazing.–
Having witnessed the building’s decay with his own eyes, Yang Zicang guessed that the man must have absorbed the white energy inside the structure, granting him geometric forms that could bloom and wrap around himself.
Though this was only fifty percent likely, it was at least no longer a complete dead end.
The other half of the possibility was that he already possessed that ability, using the energy concealed in the building merely to strengthen it.
After all, the building hadn’t turned into a monster like the bus had.
–There’s a subway entrance over there.–
Although the entrance to the subway was more than spacious enough to accommodate the monster’s size, the subway station was ultimately an underground passage leading elsewhere, so the four quickly entered and dashed off into the distance.
Hooom—
No sooner had they stepped into the ticket hall than they heard the subway’s buzzing roar from below.
They had no idea if these trains could be boarded, but if they could, they might escape far away in no time.
The group passed through the spectral crowd and descended to the platform, only to stare in disappointment at the translucent apparitions before them.
–What a relief… at least these cars won’t turn into monsters,– the old man beside them said, trying to sound encouraging.
The earlier sprint had pushed his lungs to their limit, and it took considerable effort just to speak.
–Bai Yuan is losing his stamina.– Bitterness knotted in the girl’s heart—what if Bai Yuan were to fall in battle?
She had sacrificed thirty years of her own lifespan to get this far; although that was the least of the price among those present, the fairest blooming years of a girl’s youth had still been wasted away.
Yang Zicang’s face turned grim.
–No, haven’t you noticed? All those cars and pedestrians we walked through on the ground—they make no sound.–
As he finished speaking, another booming –Hooom—– gust roared through the underground passage.
Accompanied by a roar, a train of reddish-yellow slammed through the phantom subway carriage stopped on the tracks before overlapping and coming to a halt.
This train was real!
The four of them stepped back in unison, staring warily at the bizarre train.
With a clang, the doors opened, and a suffocating atmosphere spilled out from within.
A swaying figure of a man moved to the doorway, his voice hoarse as he spoke, –You… are… worthless now. Only those with… more than seventeen years… can board.–
With that, the doors slammed shut.
Through the windows, they could see the sluggish man walking back to his seat and sitting down. Inside the carriage sat dozens of people, silent like lost, hollow wax figures.
The train roared again and sped off.
Only when it had departed did Yang Zicang feel the suffocating pressure recede from the air.
–This… is no longer Earth…–
They had all seen the train, faint scales as of a living creature appearing dimly along its side.
The girl stood stunned, replaying his words in her mind—was she reaching the end with so little time left, unable to survive the next seventeen years?
–Bai Yuan escaped too, and that bus monster has even managed to grow tentacles.–
Through his perception, the man in the white trench coat was retreating step by step under the combined assault of Director Huang and the monster.
Who knows how many Chronos he’d spent—Mu Xiaoyu already felt completely hopeless. It seemed his first-ever investment was about to end in catastrophic losses.
And at one stroke, he’d lost thirty years. He would be turning fifty soon.
–Run. Get out through the other side. See if we can shake that thing off.– The two who had been sprinting alongside Yang Zicang made up their minds to split up again—only this way could there be any real chance of survival.
–Big brother, you…–
–Go.–
Watching the two turn and dash toward the stairs, Yang Zicang followed suit. But after taking two steps, he abruptly stopped.
Lifting his head, he surveyed the metro station—a transfer hub where several subway lines converged, making the station quite spacious.
A lightbulb overhead flickered unevenly, on the verge of burning out at any moment.
Turning his head, he noticed that posters on the pillars looked like they hadn’t been replaced in ages—their colors faded and stale.
There seemed to be an invisible force, like a thin mist silently settling over his body.
–Hey, big brother. If you’re not coming, I’m going on ahead, okay?–
–Sure.– Yang Zicang casually replied to her, but his heart was caught in a strange emotion—as if this very station were urging him to stay.
His eyes kept drifting, eventually landing on those moving escalators.
They hadn’t fallen in, so they must be real.
–Subway station…– Yang Zicang murmured to himself.
Because he had been connected to Bai Yuan all along, he could still feel the faint white light lingering in his heart.
At that moment, he sensed that white light faintly absorbing some kind of energy from its surroundings—and this sensation grew stronger after Mu Xiaoyu left.
{Sorry, all four of you. This nightmare creature is someone else’s bonded nightmare—I can’t take it on alone. Wait until tomorrow when my teammate returns; he’ll definitely be able to subdue it. Don’t worry.}
With that, the image that had been watching Bai Yuan like a third-person perspective vanished abruptly.
That bastard had run off!
Just then, inside the subway station on the transfer line where Yang Zicang was standing—
Countless white spiderwebs suddenly surged from the walls around him, streaming like currents of energy, while the nearby structures rapidly aged and fell into decay.
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