It was creepy, even for Su Bai who was half a killer and had executed multiple people. What the h.e.l.l did he do that lead to his tragic death?

Unlike Seven who seemed to be extremely interested in corpses in this story world and would examine every body he saw, Su Bai didn’t want to spend even a minute in the darkness examining such a horrible dead man. So he stepped backwards trying to get away. But his back hit something.

He stretched out both hands; it was an invisible film that blocked him.

Then, he began to notice that the soil under his feet had become softer and softer, like the bitumen on the roads would melt in summer. It was even more dramatic because his legs were sinking into the earth.

He spread out his arms, planning to lift himself up; but when his palms touched the ground, he felt a strong absorbing force, and his hands were sucked into the black soil.

Now there was nothing he could do. His limbs were all stuck in the soil, and there was nothing to support any strength. At last, when his head was about to be buried, he had to take a deep breath in advance.

He felt sticky all over. It was desperate to be buried alive and would break down ordinary men. Su Bai was no ordinary men, but he was not much better than them. A lot of thoughts flashed through his mind. But before he could reach any conclusion, his feet were in the air; then his body sank and he suddenly fell down.

There was thick blood on the ground, like a stream. But the blood was running much faster than any stream, and there was an interlayer about two meters high between the blood stream and the black soil above.

Looking up, Su Bai found that the black soil wasn’t floating in the air. Beneath it was a layer of veins like the network of human blood vessels. It was bright red as if the veins were burning. Like fungus, this stuff was spread everywhere and carried the black soil.

Although the blood stank strongly under his feet like rotten food after years of fermentation, such a close escape made Su Bai a little dizzy from oxygen deficit.

"Boom!"

The blood was only about half a meter deep, but suddenly a vortex appear in the shallow stream and then a tentacle shot out right towards Su Bai’s chest.

It was so fast that he could never evade it, even in his best days, let alone when he was exhausted after escaping from death.

"Puff!"

His chest was pierced through and he was lifted up.

That hurt… so much…

It was aching piercingly, because he was literally torn apart. He almost pa.s.sed out, but his inherent instinct for survival forced him to stay awake.

The tentacle went through Su Bai’s chest, but he did not die. The tentacle noticed that and seemed to be quite confused. Why wasn’t its target dead?

As for Su Bai, of course he was badly injured, but he was a vampire and would not die easily like an ordinary human being.

But it became worse. In order to be sure whether Su Bai was dead or not, the tentacle started shaking up and down. Su Bai was smashed into the blood and then against the black soil above like a rattle-drum.

"F**k!"

Su Bai couldn’t say anything more before his head hit the blood and then his body hit the soil. There must have been barbs on that tentacle; it hooked his body with them, so he couldn’t break free, even after such violent tosses and impacts.

However, vampires were not actually immortal, and Su Bai wasn’t a very high-level one. With continuous damage, he felt that his life was rapidly drying out and hunger took over. He was d

ying for real. This time, he had no blood bead to help him recover. He wouldn’t last long if he couldn’t fight back.

At last, his eyes landed on the blood stream. It smelt awful and disgusting, and it was the farthest thing from food even for a vampire like Su Bai. But under such circ.u.mstances, he had no other choice.

The next time, when he was smashed into the blood by the tentacle, he opened his mouth and swallowed some blood.

And then again and again, he swallowed more blood each time he hit the stream.

He didn’t know if it would work, but at least… he was still alive.

But he couldn’t afford being tossed around… His bones were beginning to broke.

You want me die? Then I’ll die…

Su Bai roared deeply and turned into a vampire. His heart stopped beating, he became lifeless and motionless.

The tentacle stopped its mad attack at once.

For the tentacle, it seemed to be a great relief that its target was finally killed.

Then Su Bai was carried around in the air, like a public shaming parade without onlookers. However, the onlookers arrived soon.

The tentacle carried Su Bai to a turning of the stream, and violently threw him onto an empty stone terrace. Su Bai remained motionless, but now, he was lying on his stomach, and his wounds were healing gradually.

The tentacle pulled back into the blood. From Su Bai’s present angle, it now looked more like a root of a plant rather than a tentacle of an animal.

Just then, there came the music of suona horns[2]. It sounded happy and joyous, as if someone was going to pick up his bride. Honestly, Su Bai had not heard such suona horns since he was a kid.

A man in red silk clothes approached on a horse, surrounded by a lot of people. Among them, seven or eight were playing suona horns; it sounded harsh but somehow metrical. But these men were terribly pale with heavy blusher on their cheeks, which reminded Su Bai of the paper men he saw in the second story world he experienced. They were like another version of paper men.

The horse that the man was riding on was carried by several paper men, because it was not a real horse; it was made of paper and bamboo frames, and couldn’t walk by itself.

As for the man, he looked a little more lively than the bandsmen or the horse-carriers. He was not a paper man, but he didn’t seem to be human either, because his face was a total mess— his skin was gone, both eyes were weirdly appearing and disappearing in his flesh. His clothes were red, which usually stood for happiness, but they were old and were roughly scrabbled up by cloth strips.

It was a strange team. With their appearance, the temperature dropped dramatically.

Several bandsmen came and helped Su Bai up— or rather, lifted him up. He didn’t struggle, because he was still recovering. But he kept his eyes open slightly, which seemed to be more common for a dead man.

These men carried Su Bai to the man on the horse. The man was swaying on the horse with obvious delight; though he had no face, his mood was clear.

Then he waved his hand. The men moved Su Bai closer to him, and he started touching and feeling Su Bai’s face as if he was testing a piece of clothes.

Yes, like a piece of clothes.

Su Bai watched as the man touched his face while calculating his injury and recovery and remaining strength, considering whether he could kill them all after turning into a zombie. He had no idea what the man was capable of, so he chose not to do anything for now.

The man kept feeling Su Bai’s face, but he seemed to be getting more and more upset, which influenced the bandsmen’s mood. In the end, the suona horns were almost sobbing.

At last, the man waved towards Su Bai and signaled his men to move Su Bai away. A strong loath was clearly shown on his remaining face.

Su Bai’s chest was slightly moving up and down.

He was…

… despising Su Bai…

… for his ugliness?

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Fried Dough Twist: Also known as Chinese doughnut or Mahua, it is a kind of traditional Chinese snack fried in peanut oil.

[2] Suona horn: also called laba or haidi, is a piece of musical instrument with a distinctively loud and high-pitched sound, and is used frequently in Chinese traditional music ensembles, particularly those that perform outdoors. It has been used widely for festivals, weddings, funerals and military purposes.