“I’ve just made a call out, and although I couldn’t hear the words on the other end of the line, I’m sure I was heard.”
The young reporter held up the mobile phone in his hand, which was changing signal strength, with a joyful look on his face.
“Perhaps the government has already noticed the changes in H city now. Look at all the strange flesh and blo*od here; whether you look down on the map or by satellite, you can see it.”
The reporter looked out at the bloo*d-red sky at the end of the streets of H-city.
Although he could only see the scarlet sky when he looked out from inside H City, he couldn’t see the outside world at all, as if the whole city were shrouded in a blo*od-colored mist.
But the outside world would definitely notice the changes here.
After his phone call, they had probably already sent personnel to rescue this place.
“Now is not the time to think about those things; we first need to go and find clues to where the god of doom’s main body is!”
Li Qi felt somewhat helpless.
She had already told the young reporter about the terrifying nature of the god of doom.
But he still only felt that it was a supernatural psychic phenomenon, an existence that could be interfered with by human power.
“It’s impossible for the god of doom to be affected by human power; maybe in the outside world, H city is still the same as usual; it’s just that we’ve entered this world that doesn’t belong to humans.”
Saying that, Li Qi recalled her previous life in a bit of a trance.
Initially, both she and her boyfriend, Li Sheng, also thought that the government might come to their rescue.
Later on, they found out that there were no normal humans in this world at all.
It was as if they had been abandoned in this apocalyptic world.
Or maybe they were the only ones who survived, and the normal humans were nowhere to be found.
No one knew whether they were dead or isolated from the world of normal humans.
“There’s just so little we can do to fight against the god of doom.”
Li Qi’s mind was becoming unstable again.
She trembled uncontrollably for a while before stabilizing.
And the young reporter just coldly watched her onset, the corner of his mouth seeming to purse with some disdain.
“Alright, I got it. Find the essence of the god of doom; it’s like playing a game. Just gather the clues, and you’ll find the god of doom.”
The young reporter found this somewhat amusing.
This was why he didn’t quite believe this woman.
It was simply nonsense.
Why would a god leave clues about his body? It was almost as if he was deliberately leading people there.
But it didn’t make sense for a god to do that.
Li Qi ignored the young reporter’s questioning.
She only looked down at the clue card in her hand.
This was what she had just worked so hard to get.
The price paid was a bone-deep wound on her leg.
If it wasn’t for the fact that there was a pharmacy nearby that could treat the wound, she would have lost too much blo*od and died.
This clue card wasn’t the same as the one she got from her memory in her previous life.
This could mean that the current god of doom wasn’t the same as his previous life.
[Horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs, pigs]
[You are food; you are of the same kind.]
[I am the ugliest and the most horrible.]
[I hope he never knows who I am.]
The first card in her previous life was supposed to record the origin of the god of doom, which implied the reason for the god of doom’s madness.
It was only at the end that she realized that those clues were a reflection of the inner changes of the god of doom.
From the very beginning of his life, he was mentally sane.
To the final madness, wanting to slaughter all of humanity.
But this time, the descriptions left Li Qi a little confused.
Although she was able to rely on the information on the card to find the route map, she was unable to decipher the psyche of the god of doom recorded on this card.
What on earth was the god of doom thinking, and what did it have to do with these livestock?
Li Qi turned over the back of the card.
The back of the card was usually a description with a very different tone than the front.
The one from her previous life went from stating that god loved the world to saying that god hated the world on the back.
The current back, on the other hand, reads, [I am willing to return to normal.]
But the small print between the fonts said something else: I will pretend to be normal in front of him.
[I will befriend the other me.]
[I will chew me up and devour me.]
[I know he loves the whole me.]
[I know he doesn’t love me as I am.]
[I want him to love me forever.]
[I want him to love me forever.]
“……”
Li Qi didn’t know exactly who the “he” in the card referred to.
But somehow she thought of the butcher’s lover.
The beautiful human.
He was obviously an ordinary human, but he made both the butcher and the god of doom fall in love with him.
Sometimes, when she recalled it, Li Qi even felt that that lover was even weirder than both the butcher and the god of doom.
An indefinable sense of incongruity surrounded him.
The corners of his mouth were always smiling, but it couldn’t hide the detachment in his eyes.
Out of place with the entire world.
It was as if he would leave this world at any moment.
Ending her thoughts on this card, Li Qi was ready to look for her next clue.
And the young reporter was still busy taking pictures everywhere.
As if this flesh and blo*od city were very attractive.
Even when he was chased by monsters and panting, he just continued taking pictures with a pale face.
“I’m going to hold on; as long as I can escape from here, these photos will make me famous!”
The young reporter covered his bloo*died arm, but his expression was extremely exuberant.
Li Qi could only listen to this.
She was busy looking for the next clue.
But as far as the eye could see, there was only a rusty orange-red light, the light reflected by the bloo*d and flesh.
It was dim and depressing.
It made the clues that were hidden in the flesh and bl*ood very hard to find, and it was almost only possible to proceed by groping around.
Rumble-!!!
Just as Li Qi was feeling exhausted from this, she suddenly heard a loud boom coming from the ground.
The entire city shook.
Rustling-
The accompanying whispers were even more chaotic, like two voices intermingling together, sharp and piercing to the extreme.
“What’s happening?”
The young reporter was terrified.
The camera in his hand almost broke.
Li Qi was also a bit terrified.
She hid in a corner and watched as the flesh and bloo*d of the city became restless, as if something had happened that would be enough to change the city.
The two of them hid in place for a long time before they bravely stepped out.
They found that the flesh and bl*ood monsters that were originally in hideous postures were all hanging their heads low.
They seemed to be unconscious.
Li Qi realized that this was the best time to look for clues.
Not being able to think about the cause of these monsters’ changes, she dragged her heavy body and continued to search for clues.
Soon, she managed to find the next card.
The price was a large portion of skin on her arm, corroded by the blo*od of monsters in a restaurant.
Although the monsters were all immobile, their very existence was a danger in and of itself.
Not to mention the fact that she needed to pull this card out of the flesh and blood monster’s chest cavity herself.
But with a bruised head, Li Qi looked at the card and knew it was all worth it.
The second card was even more obscure.
The front of the card still had words written on it that Li Qi didn’t quite understand, and it also looked more confusing than the first.
It seemed to represent someone’s confused mental state.
[To the god of love, I pray for forgiveness; my sins are irreversible.]
[god does not exist.]
[To the beloved god of doom, I pray for happiness, which no longer belongs to me.]
[god does not exist.]
[I know I will be consumed; I know I will lose him.]
[god is sinful.]
[Lovesickness, jealousy, resentment, desire.]
[If this is what he desires.]
On the back was written another, more confusing tone.
[My madness has hurt him.]
[My guilt is useless.]
[I am the residue left after stripping away sanity.]
[I am the shell of an unloved man.]
[He loves me.]
[Even deception makes me rejoice.]
“……”
The words on the card seemed to be getting crazier and crazier for Li Qi.
If they all represented the mental state of the god of doom, then perhaps this city of flesh and bl*ood wouldn’t exist for much longer.
Combined with the sudden vibrations and whispers that had appeared earlier, Li Qi reckoned that the god of doom would soon be descending into madness.
She had to speed up.
But now that the butcher had never appeared, even if she found the main body, it wouldn’t help.
This left Li Qi at a loss as to what to do.
She could only frown and fall into a state of haste.
But suddenly, she heard a familiar voice.
“Can you show me the card?”
It was a soft and gentle tone, light as a feather.
Enough to soften one’s heart.
Li Qi froze, dully raising her head to see the gentle-looking youth standing behind her.
It was the butcher’s lover.
He was completely different from this boring and horrible city.
Unlike their wretchedness, the lover seemed to be alive and well here.
In the lover’s beautiful pupils, Li Qi’s saw her own blo*odstained face and was somewhat ashamed of herself.
She subconsciously obeyed his request and handed him the card.
And the tall youth looked at the card in his hand with downcast eyes.
His fair fingers touched the cards that were taken out of the bloo*d and flesh monsters.
His fingers seemed even more slender, and the joints were clearly defined.
His lips were gently pursed as he looked at the cards.
They looked red and inviting.
Li Qi subconsciously gulped.
“Thanks.”
The youth returned the cards.
As he withdrew his hand, Li Qi saw the green veins on his wrist and the cold white skin.
It was flawless.
The butcher’s lover had a beautiful softness that felt completely different from the butcher’s.
He was so beautiful, it was like she was hallucinating.
Especially in this depressing city of flesh and blo*od, the strong contrast made his beauty almost magical.
And just as Li Qi was mesmerized by what she was looking at, the youth turned to leave.
“Wait, wait, are you okay?”
Li Qi subconsciously called out to him, her expression somewhat stunned.
She had thought that the youth had been split up by the god of doom.
After all, the madness of the god of doom was something she kept in mind.
But if that was really the case, why had the youth who had been resurrected once again not fled?
“Split up?”
The youth seemed to be amused.
The semi-long black hair hanging from his ear swayed slightly with the movement of his chest, revealing the distinct collarbone under his collar.
“Isn’t it written very clearly on the card?”
What?
Li Qi was a little too confused and couldn’t understand the meaning, but she eagerly stopped the young man who was about to leave.
Not wanting him to continue to get hurt, she asked, “Aren’t you scared?”
She even forgot to inquire about the butcher’s whereabouts.
Now all that was on her mind was that she couldn’t let the youth get hurt again.
In the face of Li Qi, who looked a little crazy, the youth just smiled meaningfully.
His voice was calm.
“Have a good rest; perhaps the things you are looking forward to will soon take a turn for the better.”
After saying that, the youth turned around and left the place.
Click-
The young reporter who had been staying nearby froze and snapped the picture, wondering if he had gotten the full picture.
Li Qi, on the other hand, looked at the cards in her hand in frustration.
When she looked up again, she only saw the young man’s back as he gradually moved away and the young reporter’s figure as he chased after him.
Li Qi looked at the young reporter in dismay, wondering what he was trying to do.
The young reporter, however, gave her a disdainful look.
The smile on his face gradually became ecstatic. “I’m starting to believe your words a little; if it’s this person, it’s still really possible to charm the god of doom.”
“You’re also really out of your mind; since you know that this guy is the god of doom’s beloved, why don’t you hurry up and stop him? As long as we get him, won’t the god of doom agree to whatever we ask for?”
The young reporter really didn’t understand this girl’s brain circuits.
Always thinking that the butcher’s lover should be with the butcher.
She wasn’t like a normal person at all.
But she was just a crazy person, not a normal person at all.
He was a normal person.
Thinking like this, the young reporter jogged all the way and followed behind the tall and slim youth.
Ready to find the right time to tie him up.
Li Qi froze, and it took her a long time to come back to her senses, raising her steps and wanting to chase after him.
She was afraid that the brainless guy would hurt Jiu Shu.
The next moment, however, she heard the familiar sound of a dragging machete behind her.
“!”
Li Qi crouched her body to hide with her instincts, not daring to move at all.
Dangling-
The sound got closer and closer, and she saw the familiar figure through the gap in the wall.
A tall, ghastly figure with a bandaged face.
With his head hanging low, only the muscles of his bandaged arms could be seen bulging, dragging the machete behind him as he took a step forward.
It was the butcher.
Li Qi covered her mouth, her eyes trembling as she strained to look upward.
All that could be seen was the butcher’s bandaged face, impervious to a single crevice, he seemed corpse-like.
Cold and dead.
As in the previous life, just looking at him would give one unspeakable fear.
Only one thing was different from the previous life.
His eye sockets were no longer empty or bleeding; they were simply covered by a bandage.
Was the butcher looking for his lover?
But would he, who had become a monster, hurt the youth?
Li Qi was a little hesitant.
She didn’t know what was wrong with herself; it was like she was possessed. Before, she had been thinking about getting the butcher and his lover married.
Now, she couldn’t help but feel that the butcher and that youth were somewhat mismatched.
Just in the moment when Li Qi was lost in thought, her breathing slightly increased.
In the next moment, the sharp machete slashed deeply into the wall next to her cheek.
The wall split open with several cracks, and Li Qi’s face turned white with fear.
Behind the heavy machete was the butcher’s cold face.
He was tall enough that she had to lift her head to see the full picture, the butcher stood not far from her, the muscles of his arm holding the knife tensed with the movement.
The very powerful muscle lines under the bandages on his upper body were enough to illustrate his terrifying strength.
Bang! The machete was reared up, ready to fall again.
And this time, it probably wouldn’t miss.
Li Qi’s mind went blank, and her fingers trembled as she pointed in the direction where Jiu Shu had left.
“Go there. Go there. Your lover went there!”
Her instinct to survive made her utter these words.
Za –
The machete that was about to fall was slowly retracted.
TN:
This chapter is really long, so I broke it down into 3 parts.
Li Qi needs help atp, poor her 😭