Chapter 499: Weakness of the Soul
Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Chen Xiaolian was not a saint without principles.
In the African jungle, he saw through human nature, and when it came to those "refugees" filled with human ugliness, he could harden his heart and turned a blind eye.
However, this didn't mean he was a cold-hearted guy.
To put it this way, he was just an ordinary person.
Although young and wise, his identity as a writer had allowed him to delve into a wide range of useful and useless knowledge. But in terms of character, he was essentially an ordinary young man—perhaps a bit precocious, but that was about it.
As for those African refugees, Chen Xiaolian would have deemed them not worth saving.
But he wouldn't have gone as far as to slaughter them.
Just like right then, he was watching the bustling crowd on the street.
He also wouldn't have felt any psychological burden about killing these strangers who had nothing to do with him.
Even though he knew it was a simulation.
But... the illusion was fake. The murderous intent caused by slaughter was real!
These people looked too lifelike; this was definitely not a Dynasty Warriors game where you could casually mow down enemies.
Killing such people, you would see blood, smell the scent of blood, see wounds, see flesh and blood, hear screams...
It's too realistic, just like the real thing.
It's too realistic, and you might really get lost in it.
"If I really choose to kill... after doing these things, I'll probably really descend into the dark abyss," Chen Xiaolian frowned.
He had a faint feeling... that this might be a trap, a snare.
A trap that makes people fall into it willingly.
And at this moment, what worried Chen Xiaolian even more was: if he encountered such a scene, then... what about the other teammates?
Especially... Qiao Qiao!
The side effects brought by her abilities...
Chen Xiaolian was suddenly shocked!
He straightened up in the driver's seat of the car!
No!
This cannot happen!!
If Qiao Qiao is really triggered into a murderous frenzy and descends into the dark abyss...
"I can't let something like that happen."
Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath.
Just at that moment, in the sky, the row of red transparent letters underwent a change!
The original "Current Status: 8/999." suddenly changed, and a series of new words replaced the old ones.
"Received 10 points of Demon Value. Current Status: 18/999."
"Received 8 points of Demon Value. Current Status: 26/999."
"Received 11 points of Demon Value. Current Status: 37/999."
"Received 8 points of Demon Value. Current Status: 45/999."
Chen Xiaolian's face changed dramatically!
He immediately opened the car door and jumped onto the roof, scanning the surroundings.
The streets of this city were still bustling with traffic and crowded with people, just like before.
But there were no signs of new riots.
No new deaths had occurred.
So... where did these sudden changes in data come from...
His teammates?
Soon, Chen Xiaolian made two judgments based on the changing data:
First, the "1/999" points were not just his personal points; they were accumulated by the entire team.
Second, he hadn't done anything to cause the points to change, which meant... something must have happened to his other teammates!
Chen Xiaolian's expression suddenly became extremely strange, and gradually, a cold flame flickered in his eyes!
...
If there was a weakness in Chen Xiaolian's character, then in this Instance, what Roddy had said a few hours ago was almost spot on!
"He's very addicted to that feeling of 'being needed.'"
In short, Chen Xiaolian's biggest vulnerability in his psyche was this extreme fear of loneliness, which resulted in an almost excessive sense of responsibility towards his companions!
He was that kind of person. Once he truly considered you as "one of his own," he would go to great lengths for you.
Chen Xiaolian was that kind of person.
Because of his early experiences, he was addicted to the feeling of "being needed," even to the point of an unhealthy obsession.
And this weakness was erupting at this moment.
...
"So... I'll take care of these." Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath and jumped down from the car roof.
With a calm and almost ruthless attitude, he got back into the driver's seat.
He started the car again, revving the engine forcefully as he looked at the traffic ahead.
"If I have to exchange my shattered psyche for the value of slaughter... well, I'm the Guild Leader, so of course, it's my responsibility." Chen Xiaolian smiled as if to himself.
Suddenly, he let go of the stone sword he had been holding and placed it directly on the passenger seat.
"Since I'm going to descend into the dark abyss, let's do it faster and more thoroughly."
With that, he... released the brakes and stepped on the gas!
The direction was... into the traffic on the road!
...
Xia Xiaolei kicked away the gun in Qimu Xi's hand, then pounced on her!
He had a gun in his hand but he didn't use it.
At this moment, an unparalleled brutality surged in his heart!
He had only one thought in his mind!
Kill her!
Not with the gun! But with his own hands, in the cruelest and most vindictive way, he wanted to kill her!
Break her neck! Shatter every bone in her body!!!
Spill every drop of blood from her damn body!!!
Xia Xiaolei pinned Qimu Xi to the ground, and Qimu Xi struggled fiercely. She kneed Xia Xiaolei brutally in his stomach.
After her complete transformation into darkness, she had shed her gentleness and timidity, becoming surprisingly daring and fierce!
Xia Xiaolei's body twisted, and unexpectedly, Qimu Xi straddled him like riding a horse and thrust her fingers towards Xia Xiaolei's eyes! Xia Xiaolei punched Qimu Xi in the stomach, causing the girl to grunt and her body went limp, rolling to the side, her body curled up like a shrimp.
Xia Xiaolei went to pry open Qimu Xi's arm to try and break it, but without hesitation, Qimu Xi bit into Xia Xiaolei's forearm! This bite pierced through the flesh, as if she wanted to tear off a piece of it!
...
"Come out! Come out!!! Why aren't you coming out! Why aren't you coming out!!!"
The house was already engulfed in flames.
Qiao Qiao, following the cries of her sister, finally found her own sister.
But she saw Soo Soo standing at the doorway of a room, desperately smashing a door.
Although the door was sturdy, it quickly gave way under Soo Soo's fiery onslaught.
Qiao Qiao tried to pull Soo Soo away, but suddenly realized that after breaking open the door, Soo Soo didn't rush inside.
This little girl suddenly seemed to be frozen, standing at the doorway, staring straight into the room...
At that moment, Soo Soo's eyes turned completely black!
Qiao Qiao stood at the door, looking at Soo Soo and peering into the room in the direction she was looking.
Behind her, a beam had already been burnt down, falling to the ground, sparks flying.
Qiao Qiao was also frozen, she even forgot to pull Soo Soo, just staring into the room...
In the room, there was a large bed that had been completely ravaged by the fire - from its shape, it should have been a very luxurious and comfortable one when it was intact.
However, at this moment, the bed had been burnt to a crisp, and... it had been split into two!
On the bed... a woman had been decapitated!
The gruesome scene made Qiao Qiao's stomach turn, and she almost vomited.
And on the wall of the room... she saw a corpse!
A man in pajamas had been impaled on the wall with a sword!
The man's head hung low, one hand gripping the sword's blade, which had pierced through his chest, impaling his entire body, and then embedded in the wall.
The man's legs dangled in the air, and he looked like a specimen pinned to the wall!
"Dad, Dad... Mom, Mom... Mom..."
With a gulp, Soo Soo sat down on the ground.
In an instant, Qiao Qiao's mind became clear and she realized everything!!!
If this environment was created based on Soo Soo's memories, then...
The scene before her was the darkest, most terrifying, and most haunting memory from Soo Soo's early childhood!
It was the most dreadful and cruel nightmare!
This nightmare was...
Soo Soo's parents were not burned to death.
This fire was not an accident!
Soo Soo's parents had been brutally murdered in the bedroom, and this fire was clearly deliberate!
Young Soo Soo must have discovered this scene due to some accident at that time, and then... a part of her personality must have turned dark, becoming that cold and ruthless dark girl.
Soo Soo's years of personality splitting had this nightmarish scene as its root cause.
Due to the self-preservation of human consciousness, such a terrifying scene was sealed in her memory, hidden deep in the recesses of her mind.
Soo Soo, as if suffering from amnesia, only remembered that her parents died in a tragic fire. She had forgotten this truth.
This truth lay buried in the depths of her memory, the deepest part of it!
But now, this truth had been unearthed, exposed in all its bloody reality!
Just at that moment, Soo Soo suddenly turned her head.
On that doll-like face, there was no expression, and her pure black eyes gazed at Qiao Qiao with an eerie calmness.
"Sister... I seem to have remembered everything."
Her voice was icy, calm, devoid of any emotion.
As Qiao Qiao looked into Soo Soo's unsettling gaze, a shiver ran down her spine.
"Sister, it turns out, things were like this," Soo Soo spoke softly. "Dad and Mom, they weren't burned to death."
The little girl's tender voice, yet so cold and calm, sent a chilling feeling.
However...
The next words that Soo Soo uttered left Qiao Qiao completely stunned!!
"Sister, do you know who set this house on fire?"
"I... I don't know..."
Soo Soo suddenly pointed at her own nose. "It was me."
Soo Soo smiled suddenly, and after twitching her lips twice, she spoke in a somewhat bewildered tone. "I remember I was sleeping, and someone broke into my room. I heard Dad and Mom's screams... I was so scared, I was really, really scared back then."
Qiao Qiao remained silent.
Soo Soo continued to speak but turned around, taking slow steps towards Qiao Qiao. She walked up to Qiao Qiao, raising her head, her forehead not even reaching Qiao Qiao's shoulder. She struggled to lift her head and locked eyes with Qiao Qiao.
"It was like, at that moment, there was a sudden surge of power inside me," Soo Soo began. "The person who broke into my room to kill me was burned to death by the fire I released."
"Fire, fire, so much fire. I ran out of my room, onto the corridor. Everywhere I went, the flames raged.
I burst into Mom and Dad's room, just like how I, um, just smashed the door open now.
And then... I saw all of this.
Yeah, that's right. I've forgotten all of this for so many years, haven't I?
Why did I forget?"
Soo Soo spoke in that ice-cold, almost frightening tone, narrating gently. In the end, she even furrowed her brow.
"Soo, Soo Soo... do you really remember all of this?" Qiao Qiao's voice trembled, as she found Soo Soo's behavior to be too... too strange.
"Yes, sister, eonni," Soo Soo nodded. "Not just this... after breaking into Mom and Dad's room just now, it's like... it's like the doors to my memories were also broken open.
Do you know? Besides Mom and Dad's bedroom, I remembered a bit of other things."
"Other things?"
Soo Soo's tone was very serious. "Yes, other things. Technically, I shouldn't remember, right? I was so young back then... maybe they thought I wouldn't remember, after all, I was just a little girl who seemed to be scared out of her wits.
But... I've always been a bit different.
Isn't human memory strange like that, eonni?"
Qiao Qiao suddenly felt a chill in her heart. "Soo Soo, what... what else have you remembered?"
"I remember something. The person who broke into my room and tried to kill me, he said something."
"Something? What did he say?" Qiao Qiao asked immediately.
"I didn't understand it at the time," Soo Soo shook her head. Then, she lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slowly. "I couldn't understand that sentence at the time... but memories are strange like that. Even though I couldn't understand it then, I remember the pronunciation of that sentence, the complete pronunciation!
This memory, along with everything that happened tonight, has been sealed away by me.
Until today, I remembered it... eonni, what should I do? I've remembered it now! What should I do, eonni?"
"Hui, calm down. What did you remember..."
Soo Soo looked at Qiao Qiao, who was trembling slowly, and the little girl suddenly smiled.
In this moment, in this scene, her smile that bloomed suddenly seemed particularly eerie and chilling!
"Sister, eonni, you've always been so kind," Soo Soo suddenly reached out and gently touched Qiao Qiao's cheek. "But what should we do now? I've remembered it."
Pausing for a moment, the little girl spoke softly, "I didn't understand that sentence back then because, as a young child, I hadn't learned Chinese yet."
With that, Soo Soo's hand that had been touching Qiao Qiao's face slid down her neck to her heart.
"Sister, that sentence, its pronunciation is..." Soo Soo took a deep breath, then exhaled. Each word she uttered felt like a nail being driven into Qiao Qiao's heart.
"Traitors must be killed, Blade... Mountain! Flame! Sea!"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone