Chapter 164

Chapter 164: The Boundless Dark Realm 19

Was that… A bat?

Kui Xin froze on the spot.

An eight-eyed bat! Its size was much larger than an ordinary bat, almost as big as a human head; the largest bat Kui Xin had ever seen was only as big as a palm.

The eight-eyed bat silently opened its mouth, revealing sharp teeth that glinted with cold light. Kui Xin used Shadow Transition to retreat, drawing a kitchen knife from her waist.

The bat did not chase after it. Instead, it made a twisted and screeching call, sounding like nails scraping against glass or chalk on a blackboard. After hearing this sound, Kui Xin felt a chill run through her body, her eardrums ringing, and even pain.

This thing can actually attack with sound waves!

Kui Xin’s heart sank as she used the magnetic sword to control the kitchen knife so it would hover and fly toward the bat.

Fortunately, besides being larger and having sound wave attacks, the bat seemed to have no other abilities. The flying kitchen knife easily pierced through the bat’s body, pinning it to the ceiling.

The eight vicious crimson eyes closed. Kui Xin gestured, and the bloody kitchen knife flew back into her hand. The bat’s corpse fell down, stirring up a small cloud of dust.

Kui Xin activated the flashlight on her phone, holding the knife and poking the bat a few times. She saw two rows of eight eyes lined up neatly on its face. Additionally, the bat’s head was covered in fleshy protrusions; the light had been too dim to see them clearly, but each protrusion had a fine seam, like a closed eyelid. She cut away a piece of the protrusion, using the tip of the knife to slit open the seam, revealing a quick-moving red eye inside, very much alive…

Kui Xin felt a chill, forcing herself to continue observing.

The two wing membranes of the bat were covered with bony spikes that made a hollow sound when knocked on. They felt quite hard, and some spikes were emerging from the wing, seemingly still growing.

In less than a minute, the bat’s corpse had melted, and crimson blood was flowing on the ground.

Kui Xin frowned and stood up.

From various experiments in the Second World, animals injected with divine blood would die within three days; a few primates could survive for a week. If this bat had mutated due to Fang Zhi, its survival time was too long… But Fang Zhi’s blood wasn’t divine blood, and the liquefied corpses from the Second World weren’t as contaminating…

Kui Xin shook off the remaining blood on the kitchen knife and stepped over the puddle of blood towards the deeper parts of the tobacco factory.

She didn’t have tools to handle the blood, so she would return later to clean up.

Kui Xin was extra cautious, entering the Shadow Transition state every time she heard any rustling. A few minutes later, she thought keeping quiet wasn’t helping the investigation, so she deliberately made some noise in the hope of attracting any hidden creatures.

A rustling sound came from around the corner of the corridor. Five or six four-legged, abnormally long and strangely shaped creatures rushed forward from the wall, making squeaking sounds as they ran.

Kui Xin took a step back, her kitchen knife zipping around the mutant creatures, severing all their limbs in one stroke.

“What… a mutant rat?” Kui Xin felt increasingly heavy-hearted.

She looked at the mutant rats’ corpses melting into blood. Kui Xin raised her head to survey all around, knocking on the metal window frames with the handle of the kitchen knife, causing harsh clanging noises throughout the factory.

She remained in place for two minutes, waiting for the mutant creatures to appear. After maintaining vigilance, she walked slowly, occasionally tapping on windows and stomping to lure out the concealed creatures… But none of these actions produced any effect. The abandoned factory resumed its eerie silence as if there were no living being present.

Kui Xin finally reached the spot where Fang Zhi had been killed. The red liquid had dried, and when illuminated by the flashlight, it was covered with a layer of dust. Around the dried red liquid, there lay scattered desiccated mice carcasses, some fragmented with gnaw marks from rodents.

Some of the dead mice had touched the blood and died from poisoning; while others mutated upon contact, consuming each other’s remains and showing strong aggression towards the living creatures around?

The place was too silent, creating a sense of unease.

Apart from the wind sounds and Kui Xin’s own breathing, there was no other noise.

Kui Xin circled the entire abandoned factory, attempting to find more mutant creatures. However, these creatures seemed to not be mindless attacking beings. Kui Xin searched without finding them again. They seemed to have hidden themselves.

She glanced at her watch, now 23:56, right before midnight.

It seemed this night would be another sleepless one.

Kui Xin couldn’t fall asleep comfortably under such conditions, pondering what further action she could take.

Those mutant animals still possessed normal biological traits, such as having body temperatures and hearts that beat. For efficient investigation, she needed professional equipment like thermal imaging devices and detection radars to search for any more mutations.

If it were in the Second World, a single vision device would solve these issues. In the First World, such equipment was unwieldy and inflexible to operate.

Kui Xin walked around the tobacco factory once more, realizing continuing here would be futile. She decided to return home as soon as possible to gather intelligence. She needed to check the forum to observe player movements and search for informants.

But just as Kui Xin was about to leave, the scene in front of her suddenly wavered. The outlines of objects distorted, and something seemed to whisper or roar from the darkness.

The gray walls, the dark corridors, and the moonlight cast unclear shadows, blending into a dim palette, filled with confusion. The deep darkness hosted indistinct shapes, restless and eager to emerge.

The change occurred in an instant.

Perhaps it was a second, or even less. Kui Xin’s vision returned to normal.

She stood dumbstruck for two seconds, feeling her clothes dampened by cold sweat.

She glanced at her phone, which showed 00:00.

Midnight! The timing of the abnormality matched the exact moment players transitioned between worlds—midnight precisely.

Kui Xin quickly scanned the surroundings with a grim expression, unwilling to stay longer. Opening a spatial vortex, she slipped inside it.

Once she arrived at the brightly lit city center, her heart calmed down.

Many twenty-four-hour stores were open, and scattered night-time pedestrians were on the streets. The warm atmosphere soothed Kui Xin’s agitated soul, and she naturally took a couple of steps towards the bright lights, seeing both the light and humanity once more, feeling herself回归人间.

Kui Xin went to a convenience store to buy a drink, drank it down in one go, and then returned home.

She switched on her phone and saw the forum buzzing with activity.

Players from both domestic and foreign countries were posting threads. Regional quests were not limited to her country alone; other nations had similar tasks too. Foreign players accurately pinpointed the locations of their missions within specific cities.

The abnormalities were global, potentially spreading evenly across the world.

Though Kui Xin found the mutated creatures troubling, they were easy to deal with. The difficulty lied in the contaminated blood. If this blood continued to cause contamination and induce further mutations in other creatures, the situation would become dangerous.

However, considering the temporal distortion starting from exactly 00:00, the reality might be even more complex.

“Dark Realm’s descent”—these words weren’t just about biological contamination by an anomaly. It signified that an extremely dark realm had truly interacted with the real world Kui Xin was in.

Like many players, Kui Xin also harbored questions.

—”Why is it TONGLIN CITY?”

Is it because Anomaly FANG ZHI died there? Did temporal distortions occur in other regions?

Were the distortions limited to the small factory, or did they extend across the entire Tonglin City?

Though short, the distortion was distinct. If it affected an entire city, others should have noticed, especially HE KANGSHI, who wouldn’t typically be sleeping at that point.

Kui Xin cautiously posted, “Are there any updates?”

He Kangshi replied almost immediately: “Forum, boss? No, nothing.”

He hadn’t noticed the temporal distortion.

Kui Xin thought for a moment, then messaged SU RONG: “How is it over there, Rong Rong?”

“I’m okay, sis Xinxin. Don’t worry, I’ll be cautious and reduce outings,” SU RONG replied.

SU RONG hadn’t noticed the temporal distortion either…

Kui Xin furrowed her brows and searched the keywords on the forum, finding no posts related to the subject.

Maybe the distortions truly only happened in that small factory.

Refreshed with new posts, she saw a new thread at the top of the first board.

Title: “Explanation of the Religion Associated with the Secret Cult in the Second World.”

Kui Xin instinctively looked at the poster’s nickname and realized it was someone familiar—an active player likely working with the Special Affairs Department who had previously contacted Kui Xin.

Top Post: Activities involving religion are not permitted in the Second World, and private possession of religious texts is also forbidden. I am not part of the secret cult, just sharing stories I’ve gathered. Hopefully, this helps you understand this terrifying organization better.

OP (Original Poster): Before humans came into existence, xenomorphs existed on Earth. According to religious texts of the secret cult, xenomorphs are not native to the Second World but appeared in the world after “the Seven Days of Blood.”

“The Seven Days of Blood” is described in their religious texts as the “Day of the Ancient Deities.” During prehistoric times when various ancient creatures ruled the land and sea, the ancient gods descended onto the planet. These gods wielded unparalleled power, bringing blood-red rain, which poured for seven continuous days.

Throughout those seven days, the land and oceans turned blood red. Many species perished; after the seventh day, the rain stopped, and the xenomorphs emerged, settling on the planet.

Over the next hundreds of thousands of years, some xenomorphs hibernated in deep lands and oceans, while others remained active, leaving behind folklore and legends worldwide.