Evil As Humans, page 231
“Now that you have intruded into this place, you are like a kind of virus. Until you learn how to control yourself, you will indiscriminately absorb information. It’s manageable if your perception is chaotic, but if the situation worsens, you may experience a breakdown or disappear completely.”
“‘Imagination’ essentially helps you focus and eliminate other information interference. If you can’t handle it, you can collectively imagine this room.”
Huang Jin swallowed his saliva loudly.
Zhong Chengshuo appeared pensive as he took a step closer to Yin Ren. “I see. Those exaggerated perceptual characteristics are meant to help you remember.”
“Are you okay?” Yin Ren whispered back.
“No, it’s probably muscle memory,” Zhong Chengshuo honestly replied.
Yin Ren opened his mouth but then pursed his lips together. Theoretically, he was a Primordial Elemental, but on the Other Side, he seemed ignorant and clumsy. The situation was worse than he had imagined; not only could he not save others, but he couldn’t even act independently.
It felt as if he were a tiger cub raised in a zoo, with no problems in health or strength, but certain death awaited him if he were thrown directly into the wild.
He hadn’t felt this “weak” in a long time.
“Let’s stop here for today. Over the next twenty-four hours, you’ll need to constantly imagine this room until it becomes a conditioned reflex.” Qi Xin shrugged her shoulders. “When you’re stable, I’ll teach you how to use the photos.”
“Can’t you just bring the missing people here directly?” Lu Xiaohe took two steps forward, but she still didn’t dare look up in front of Qi Xin. “We’re closer to the entrance now, so we can take them out first…”
As soon as she said this, almost everyone looked at Qi Xin.
Indeed, “Joy” and “Disgust” had already perished, and “Love” was squeezed in between. Qi Xin, as one of the top four emotions on the Other Side, was unrivaled. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have taken the risk to bring Yin Ren, this little cub, back to his homeland.
Qi Xin smiled.
Her smile had always made people uncomfortable, as if a wooden mask had been stretched over her face, exuding a chilling coldness reminiscent of lifelessness.
“Of course, I can do that.” Qi Xin flicked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But what benefits would I gain from doing so? Clearing the path for you, teaching you knowledge, and finding people for you—if ‘Fear’ were to retreat and run away like that, wouldn’t I lose out?”
Lu Xiaohe was speechless.
Qi Xin leaned down in front of Lu Xiaohe, tilting her head stiffly without blinking.
“When humans train small animals to bite, they often use a little meat bait or toys. For the ‘Fear’ cub, looking for those humans is good training.” Her smile became increasingly apparent, almost revealing all her teeth. “What a win-win approach, don’t you think?”
Lu Xiaohe’s breathing suddenly became chaotic and fragmented, her body trembling lightly. But she managed to hold back her emotions and didn’t reply.
“Young lady, you should learn to be grateful.” Qi Xin’s voice lowered slightly. “Otherwise, I can kill you right now, and not even ‘Fear’ will be able to do anything to me.”
“For example, someone who sneaked in here without manners.”
Qi Xin’s arm suddenly stretched out and flicked towards a corner of the room. A sharp scream followed, and a black mass was squeezed in her hand.
Dr. Cat struggled dissatisfied in her grasp, opening its mouth and hissing. Previously, everyone’s attention was on Qi Xin, and no one noticed the small black mass in the corner of the white room.
“Meiqiu?!” Fu Tianyi couldn’t sit still. “That’s impossible. You didn’t even enter the white room just now. How…”
“An infinite ability user. No wonder.” Qi Xin looked at the black cat panting frantically and casually tightened her fingers. “You guys really have all sorts of wonders over there.”
With its throat held by Qi Xin, the black cat extended its claws and scratched, but to no avail. Fu Tianyi’s face turned pale. He desperately tried to use his techniques, but like Yin Ren, Fu Tianyi couldn’t produce even a spark.
“Qi Xin.”
Yin Ren stepped forward with a stern face, grabbing Qi Xin’s wrist.
“I understand your dissatisfaction. However, this is our colleague, so I hope you won’t harm it.”
Although it was a world of consciousness, Yin Ren’s palm still exuded a hint of sweat. Qi Xin was right; in this cursed place, even if she killed Dr. Cat, he couldn’t necessarily stop her.
…This was terrible.
Qi Xin’s one eye shifted to her temple as she looked at Yin Ren for a moment. In the end, she snorted and casually threw the cat aside.
Yin Ren held the soft and fluffy Dr. Meiqiu, who regained its ability to speak. Its fur bristled all over its body as it nestled in Yin Ren’s arms, cursing in a soft voice.
“It’s not only one that sneaked in without saying hello.”
Qi Xin smiled ambiguously, her crooked eye directly facing Yin Ren.
“…Forget it. I’m going out to stretch my muscles. Since you guys brought in things indiscriminately, don’t blame me if you lose them.”
Yin Ren still held Qi Xin’s wrist, and for a moment, the room fell silent.
Qi Xin casually shook her wrist, and her arm instantly turned into a pile of thin, withered bones. She effortlessly pulled it out of Yin Ren’s palm and walked straight towards the red door.
Yin Ren grasped empty air, slowly tightening his palm and forcefully embedding his fingertips into his palm.
“Wait, I have something to say to you!”
Unable to stop her with his hand, Yin Ren tried to command his hair to stop Qi Xin. However, for some unknown reason, his obedient hair remained motionless, gently hanging down, as if it were real hair.
“If you can get out of this door, then I can have a chat with you,” Qi Xin replied without looking back.
Her figure disappeared behind the red door.
Once Qi Xin left, everyone, except for Yin Ren, let out a collective sigh of relief.
In the human world, they hadn’t felt it, but on the Other Side, Qi Xin’s slender body exuded an indescribable sense of oppression that instinctively kept people at a distance.
Dr. Cat crawled to Fu Tianyi, swiftly climbing onto his shoulder, finally catching its breath and grooming its fur. However, after licking for a while, it ended up licking the fabric on Fu Tianyi’s shoulder.
“I’ll go out for a while.”
Yin Ren walked briskly towards the red door that Qi Xin had left from. What was beyond this door were countless shades of gray and white substances that wriggled incessantly. Yin Ren walked straight ahead, as if he hadn’t seen them.
The red door closed automatically.
After a few seconds, a panting Yin Ren reappeared in the center of the room, nearly bumping into Ge Tingting. Lord Ghost King wiped his face and muttered a curse under his breath.
“Let’s practice first.” Ge Tingting quietly advised. “According to what she said, we need to adapt to the environment first. Yin Ge, why don’t you…”
Zhong Chengshuo patted the little girl’s shoulder, shaking his head at her.
“Yin Ren, give me your hand.”
Zhong Chengshuo extended his hand, naturally extending an invitation.
“I’ll take you to find her.”
Yin Ren reflexively reached out his hand and relaxed his eyes. However, the next moment, his expression stiffened.
“No.”
Yin Ren retracted his hand.
“I’ll go by myself.”
Evil As Humans Ch209
Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
* * *
Chapter 209: Doubt
Yin Ren stepped out of that red door once again.
The terrifying sensation of weightlessness, the powerlessness to unleash his strength, coupled with the bombardment of a consciousness that made one lose oneself—in less than half a minute, he appeared again in the center of the white room, looking even more disheveled than the previous time.
At first, the members of Unit 9 were all on edge, but by the hundredth time the Great Celestial Master appeared in the center of the room, no one cast a glance anymore.
Except for Zhong Chengshuo.
Zhong Chengshuo didn’t need to practice, but it also wasn’t good to act alone without the team. After being rejected by Yin Ren, Zhong Chengshuo remained silent. He sat on the ground, hugging his knees, staring blankly as Yin Ren flashed back and forth.
Initially, Yin Ren could only stay “outside” for less than half a minute. With each attempt, the time he spent outside gradually increased, but it never exceeded five minutes.
Zhong Chengshuo had never seen Yin Ren in such a sorry state. Even after the battles with Mr. Qiu and Mr. Le, Yin Ren’s aura remained stable, without the current… helplessness.
Even Zhong Chengshuo was at a loss.
Even if Zhong Chengshuo wanted to help, he couldn’t turn bodily memory into explicit theory—just like a fish naturally knowing how to swim, even if it had exceptional intelligence, it couldn’t convey this instinct to humans through language.
So he could only watch.
In the beginning, when Yin Ren failed a dozen times, he would still smile a bit embarrassingly at Zhong Chengshuo. But later on, he wouldn’t even turn his head. His expression was filled with exhaustion and confusion.
Since Zhong Chengshuo’s “resurrection”, Yin Ren would occasionally glance at him, as if there was a red thread connecting them through their gaze. However, in these 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 57 seconds, to Yin Ren, he himself seemed no different from the other members of the group.
Zhong Chengshuo was surprised to find that he didn’t quite like this feeling. Whether it was Yin Ren’s persistence or his disregard, it was a subtle kind of sadness, like a black thread sticking to a piece of snowy white fabric.
So he shifted his body, moving closer to the center of the room. Close enough that when Yin Ren flashed for the hundredth time, he was right by Zhong Chengshuo’s feet.
One standing, one sitting, Zhong Chengshuo looked up at Yin Ren. However, Yin Ren only wiped the sweat off his face and strode toward the red door.
His figure was swallowed by the red door for the hundredth time.
Zhong Chengshuo felt a sense of melancholy as he took out a photo. Yin Ren was sleeping soundly in the photo. Even in his sleep, whenever Zhong Chengshuo leaned in, there would always be a warm strand of hair sticking to his skin, stretching lazily.
Zhong Chengshuo looked at his empty hands and tightened his fingers, lost in thought.
……
At this moment, Yin Ren was oblivious to Zhong Chengshuo’s unusual behavior. To be precise, he was too preoccupied with his own abnormality—forcing himself to immerse repeatedly in the Other Side’s environment, his perception had become completely tangled.
He tasted screams on his tongue, smelled the stench of rotting organs in his ears, and his nose was filled with the sickly sweet scent of expired sugar. The surroundings were a dizzying array of chaotic fragments. He couldn’t even figure out how to move, let alone find someone.
Yin Ren attempted to mimic his previous battles and block off his senses, but without Zhong Chengshuo’s guidance, he could only remain in a vegetative state for a few minutes.
It shouldn’t be like this.
He was the cub of “Fear” with the ability to move freely in this realm.
Yin Ren desperately tried to recall the grassy mountains and streams from a thousand years ago, then the cozy living room from a thousand years later. The impression of the “white room” that had been etched into his mind was fading. He forced himself to stay outside the red door, alternating between the “chaos” and the “emptiness” in his perception.
Over the years, Yin Ren had developed his own way of adapting to the unknown—
Pushing himself to the edge.
When facing imminent death, his hidden potential would naturally be squeezed out. This move had proven successful countless times in battles and hunts from a thousand years ago.
Information explosion, emptiness. Information explosion, emptiness… Yin Ren repeatedly opened and closed his senses, tempering his nerves time and time again. His mind was almost overwhelmed by the jumble of information. It felt as if he was being crushed into pieces and then pieced back together again.
…No wonder Qi Xin didn’t want to save people first. If Xiaohe’s mother had settled down, she would really want to escape from this place.
Yin Ren struggled to control his perception, as if steering a sinking ship in a raging storm.
Gradually, what lay before him was no longer a disorganized storm, but a merging of scenes.
Scenes belonging to others, scenes belonging to himself. Unseen scenes, scenes deeply ingrained in his memory. Light and shadow still appeared tangled, and Yin Ren felt as if he had fallen into the stomach of a colorful monster. The debris of the surrounding scenes rolled and ground against him, bringing a heavier sense of pain.
Amidst dizziness and intense pain, Yin Ren forced himself to think.
With his power, he could assist Qi Xin in protecting the city. Li Nian’s proposal for “sealing” also made sense… There were so many ways to find liberation, so why did he choose the most difficult one?
His mind was repeatedly battered by information, almost turning into a pulp.
Yin Ren became somewhat dazed for a moment. Amidst the vivid colors, his thoughts became increasingly elusive. He wasn’t sure if he had truly arrived on the Other Side or if he had fallen into a nightmare.
Even though he suppressed the thought of returning to the white room, various ideas of giving up continued to scream in his ears.
Right, he could cooperate with Zhong Chengshuo… Didn’t they work together so well in the previous battle against Mr. Le? In case of conscious corruption or emotional influence, he just needed to block off his senses and wholeheartedly trust… trust Zhong Chengshuo…
…
No.
Yin Ren abruptly snapped back to reality. Just as the first two notes of “Happy Birthday” played in his mind, he forcefully shifted his thoughts.
Although he came to the Other Side to fulfill his promise to Lu Xiaohe, did he truly have only that one promise to fulfill?
Not long ago, Zhong Chengshuo solemnly blew out a candle in front of him, and a warm glow flickered in those dark eyes.
[I hope that no matter what the future holds, we will be the best accomplices.] That person sincerely made a wish to him.
Becoming the most excellent humanoid weapon was indeed a method. Capable of fighting demons and disasters, proficient in various spells, and able to protect his comrades and transform into an eyeless blade.
But then what?
Perhaps Love would be sealed away, returning to the Other Side to balance Qi Xin. If he did that, would Qi Xin spare him and Zhong Chengshuo? Mr. Qiu was able to destroy Zhong Chengshuo’s physical body and take him away. When it came to battling the Great Primordial Elementals or self-preservation, these were the issues that Zhong Chengshuo needed to deal with.
Until the day Love and Sorrow vanished.
He would be responsible for the mortal realm, and Zhong Chengshuo would be responsible for the Other Side. It seemed fair, but it made Yin Ren extremely uncomfortable. He couldn’t forget the sight of that person losing his head, falling before him.
Like a wound, scabbing over, tearing away, and repeating the process. No amount of sweetness or warmth could heal it.
As soon as this thought arose, the debris of scenes around Yin Ren gradually turned blood red. His imagination quickly constructed the scene—the sunset and stone steps of that day appeared before him once again.
Whether it was the blood splattered on the walls or the moss between the stone steps, every detail was vividly present. Warm blood flowed over the stone slabs, and the stench of flesh and blood filled the air.
His memories of them were much deeper than that wretched white room.
How many times had he seen this scene?
Yin Ren reached out and touched the bloodstained wall. The scene froze with Zhong Chengshuo’s body stiffly leaning against the wall, covered in mangled flesh and blood. Even without a head, Yin Ren could still recognize that person from his figure alone.
Yin Ren crouched in front of the lifeless body, gently straightening Zhong Chengshuo’s disheveled and blood-soaked clothes. His lover’s chest wound was gruesomely torn open, and Yin Ren carefully closed it. But even after doing everything, the scent of death still lingered, viciously wrenching at Yin Ren’s heart.
Perhaps with revenge taken, the tragic state of Yin Village found peace in his heart. And in its place, this scene became a horrifying curse that sent chills down his spine with just a single glance.
This time, Yin Ren didn’t look away.
He gazed at the headless body—the bloodstains on his hands were as fresh as ever, not yet dried.
“The cart will find its way around the hill when it gets there*. Enjoying life in a timely manner is the most important thing. That’s always been my way of thinking. But if we split the responsibility in half and go on as we are… I don’t think that qualifies as the best accomplice.”
*(车到山前必有路) Idiom referring to things will eventually sort itself out.
That was the wish you made to me. How can I just brush it off?
Yin Ren traced the broken neck of the body. The severed flesh revealed a snow-white spine, resembling a pale seed.
“…A long time ago, I never used to consider the ‘future’.”
Yin Ren’s fingertips moved from Zhong Chengshuo’s mutilated neck to his ribs, feeling the lingering warmth of the skin. After a moment of hesitation, Yin Ren leaned forward and embraced him. Without the weight of a head, the body felt much lighter than he had imagined.
“But after awakening in this era, I’ve thought about the ‘future’ twice. The first time, I thought about how much I love you, and you’re human. If you were to grow old and die in the future, I would be devastated.”
