Chapter 41: The Race

“You have suffered corruption. Your Sanity has been damaged. Current Sanity: 43/100.”

The System’s cold notification instantly pulled Zhou You back out of the illusion.

That single voice alone had caused nearly thirty points of his Sanity to vanish in an instant.

Yet it was not over.

At the feet of the bodhisattva, blood and flesh had already begun surging. Pus transformed into a foul and filthy ocean, carrying countless wailing souls toward Zhou You’s location.

“Player has triggered the final monster: Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva.”

“All roads and locations during the night have now been unlocked.”

“Player must evade Its pursuit and locate the core item of this scenario, the Black Pottery Sacrificial Idol, then destroy it completely.”

“Please note: Because the player completed the hidden storyline of the instance ahead of schedule, the Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva broke free before all sacrifices were completed. It is currently in an incomplete state and cannot personally hunt the player.”

“Please note: Because the player has unsealed the Vajra Protector Guardian Temple of Sanhua Temple, the Skanda Guardian Temple of Sanhua Temple, and the Sanzhi Xiumo Guardian Temple of Sanhua Temple, the abilities of the Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva have been greatly weakened.”

“The Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva’s Death Curse Brahma Sound has been sealed.”

“The Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva’s Gate of Non-Duality has been sealed.”

“The Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva’s Unity of Flesh and Blood has been sealed.”

“The three strange entities guarding the temples, Faceless Ghost, Eyeball Ghost, and Devout Ghost, have lost control and entered a state of indiscriminate attack.”

“The player has released all major monsters in this instance. The difficulty of the instance has been greatly reduced.”

After listening to the System’s string of notifications, Zhou You rapidly began thinking.

The first point was that the bodhisattva apparently could not personally hunt him.

That was excellent news.

After all, a single word from the creature had nearly taken half his life. If it could personally attack him, there would be no point continuing the game. He might as well spend a resurrection token, reset everything, and find a way to escape.

The second point, and the most important one, was that he had to find the sacrificial idol and destroy it.

The problem was, where was it?

Zhou You had never seen the idol before.

Liu Shang’s diary had never mentioned it either.

Searching for a single item in such a vast district...

Put nicely, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Put bluntly, it was practically a daydream.

“There should normally be clues. I just failed to notice them, or overlooked them unintentionally. So where is it...”

Outside, the sea of blood was drawing ever closer.

Inside the temple, Zhou You remained deep in thought.

Scene after scene flashed through his mind before finally freezing on one location that had been turned completely upside down.

“Damn it, I should’ve thought of that long ago!”

Zhou You slapped his palm hard.

At the same moment, a voice full of malice suddenly echoed from afar.

“I found...”

At first the voice was indistinct.

But in the blink of an eye, it became like a curse clinging to his bones, lingering beside his ears.

“I found you.”

“You went back on your word... and left me behind.”

“The bodhisattva... gave me a chance.”

“As long as I kill you, I’ll be freed!!!!”

Hold on.

Why did this sound so familiar?

Carrying the incense, Zhou You walked outside.

As expected, atop the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, he saw a very familiar face.

Liu Shang’s face.

“Holy crap. You’re still alive after ending up like that? Are you some kind of cockroach?”

Zhou You showed not the slightest remorse.

He spat a thick gob of phlegm to the side, stabbed himself with the Bloodstained Dagger, then picked a direction and turned to run.

An enraged screech immediately followed behind him.

“No, you can’t escape!!”

The sea of blood surged forward like a giant wave.

Could a human outrun a tidal wave?

The answer was no.

Within moments, the tide crossed more than a hundred metres (~330 ft).

At this rate, it would catch Zhou You within minutes and swallow him whole.

But that was under normal circumstances.

The instant the sea of blood entered an intersection, three shrill screams suddenly rang out.

There was madness in those screams.

Despair.

Pain.

Yet one emotion was shared by all of them.

Pure, absolute fury.

The first thing to hurl itself into the sea of blood was a figure in a white dress.

The ghost without a face lifted her head and mournfully spoke to Liu Shang.

“Father, I never disobeyed you anywhere. Why were you so cruel? Why did you have to peel off the face I loved most?”

As those words echoed out, Liu Shang’s facial skin immediately began trembling as though it were about to be stripped away.

But a gigantic claw instantly emerged from the sea of blood and crushed the figure in white without hesitation.

“I raised you all those years! You ate my food and drank my resources. What’s wrong with collecting a little interest from you?!”

Immediately afterward, a mass of black mist caught up.

A child’s youthful voice emerged from within.

“Dad, I was obedient. I was always obedient. Why did you dig out my eyes?”

One of Liu Shang’s eyeballs exploded on the spot.

The face became even more hideous.

“You’re my child! Everything you have belongs to me anyway! What’s wrong with giving your life for your father?”

The black mist was swallowed by the sea of blood in moments.

The last to charge forward was a skinny old man.

“Liu Shang! I worked loyally beside you for over thirty years! I was helping you when you were just starting out! Over all these decades I’ve done countless dirty jobs for you! If nothing else, I’ve already done more than enough for your sake! And this is how you repay me, by slaughtering my entire family?!”

Liu Shang’s incomplete face was instantly severed.

Although another face soon emerged from the sea of blood, its expression was visibly more exhausted than before.

Even so, the sea of blood still crushed through the old man with unstoppable force.

“So what if I killed your family? If you’re really that loyal, then use your wife, your children, and your own life to repay me!”

The final roar rolled across the entire district like a tidal wave.

Focused entirely on escaping, Zhou You immediately staggered several times.

After barely stabilizing himself, he glanced backward.

“The three powerful ghosts only held it back for less than three minutes. The time... still isn’t enough.”

Despite saying that, not a trace of panic appeared on his face.

He casually stabbed himself again.

As blood poured from the wound, his speed increased once more.

The distance between them continued shrinking little by little.

Before long, the sticky sea of blood had once again drawn close behind him.

By now, Zhou You had nearly reached Mountain Locust Alley.

Unlike the eerie silence of the previous day, the place was once again painted in scorched black.

The countless faces on the walls saw Zhou You and all broke into broad smiles.

The pitch-black child appeared once more.

He grabbed Zhou You’s sleeve.

Just as he was about to viciously utter the familiar phrase, “Want to play a game?”, he suddenly turned his head and looked behind Zhou You.

The innocent smile instantly vanished.

Stepping in front of the surging sea of blood, he spoke one word at a time in a voice filled with boundless malice.

“Want to play a game?”

“Liu Shang, you bastard!!!!”