Chapter 82
Mo Yi’s breathing hastened. Hot blood pumped from his heart out to his limbs, carrying with it a faint burning heat under his icy skin. He moved his fingers. A numbing pain came from his wound and a dizzy spell overwhelmed him.
He lowered his head, gaze sweeping over his palm.
The snow-white bandages he’d sloppily tied earlier had been completely soaked red. The overflowing blood trickled from his fingertips, dripping onto the dark red soil which greedily absorbed each offering, and in turn, deepened its shade.
The wound showed no signs of closing up at all.
He casted a quick glance at several other players. The blood on their wounded arms were also flowing freely, as if they were fresh cuts.
Mo Yi’s heart sank. He raised his eyes to look at Ivy who was standing in the centre of the plot of soil.
Her face was deathly pale, and her pair of black eyes looked even more menacing as a result. At some point, she had even found a huge and heavy kitchen knife which she grasped firmly in her hand.
That knife was the exact same one Yu Ran found in the kitchen, yet it seemed sharper and more deadly, as if one would be cut just by looking at it. The tip of the blade was coated with sticky dark red blood, suffusing a dense menacing vileness.
It was probably the murder weapon Ivy used to kill and dismember the body.
Ivy stood upright on the blood-soaked soil, staring at the crowd with her terrifying eyes. None of the players dared to make the first move, for fear that it would shock her into action.
After all, this area is not that big. In addition, there was nothing they could use to deflect her attacks, so even if they wished to escape, there was nowhere safe to run to.
Everyone secretly lamented in their hearts, feeling the premonition of imminent disaster.
Both parties remained at a stalemate. Yet the tense atmosphere seemed to be filled with flying sparks, as though the slightest movement could destroy this fragile equilibrium.
Ivy continued to stand there motionlessly, her slender ashen fingers tightly clutching the handle of the knife to the point that her knuckles turned a little blue. A silent struggle flashed across her expressionless face. She seemed to be fighting by two strong and extreme impulses, and complex expressions flickered in her pitch-black eyes.
Sensing Ivy’s wavering emotions, Yu Ran quickly glanced at the players and the barren land before gritting her teeth and yelling desperately.
“Ivy! Those two behind you are not your children! They are just two empty shells used to tempt and manipulate you!”
The struggle on Ivy’s face became more and more apparent. The fingers clutching the handle loosened and tightened then loosened again.
Yu Ran was keenly aware of the change in her attitude. Her eyes lit up, and she raised her voice and continued shouting.
“You have been tortured for hundreds of years just to prevent the spread of the disease. If you were to be bewitched by the devil now, everything would have been in vain!”
The shaken expression on Ivy’s face grew even more obvious. A thin layer of scorched black shell slowly resettled on her body, gradually spreading up to cover her from the bottom of her feet, and she seemed to be returning to her sympathetic human side.
But right at this moment, a soft child’s voice sounded from behind her.
“Mom.”
Ivy was startled and she turned to the two children behind her, only to see that they were looking at her with big dark blue eyes and a pure smile on their lips.
“Don’t you want to be with us forever?”
“Don’t you love us?”
The expression on Ivy’s pale face slowly hardens, as though she’d just put on a layer of armour. A smile spread on her face, her dark eyes are affectionate yet dull. “Of course I love you, we must stay together forever.”
Everyone’s nerves were tense to the point of snapping.Mo Yi suddenly reached out and grabbed Yu Ran who was still about to interject again, and his palm stained with half-dried blood, left a dark crimson spot on her light-coloured sleeve.
Yu Ran turned to look directly into Mo Yi’s deep eyes, and she paused.
Before she could respond, Mo Yi leaned into her ear and whispered a few words.
Stunned, Yu Ran’s eyes filled with surprise, but before she could voice her doubts, she heard the children not far away speak to Ivy with a smile in their voices.
“Mom, could you sing us a song just like you do every night?”
The last traces of struggle on Ivy’s face vanished, and her pale face returned to its emotionless state, her expression stiff and numb. She turned to the crowd again, the cruel killing intent in her dull eyes flaring up unconcealed.
She gripped the handle of the knife tightly with bluish-white fingers. Red blood cascaded down the blade, and the scorched black shell on her body peeled off again, falling to the ground.
She stepped towards the crowd, humming a nursery rhyme softly.
“…What are little boys made of ? Frogs and snails…”
Cold chills ran through the crowd. They dispersed, turning around and sprinting off despite there being nowhere to hide. All they could do was pray that they wouldn’t be the first one to be found.
After all, with so many people, there would definitely be a higher chance of survival if they spread out.
But this tiny glimpse of hope in their hearts was quickly snuffed out.
Ivy’s figure twisted then slowly dissipated in mid-air. She reappeared beside a player a few seconds later.
She raised her stiff arm. The gleaming blade in her hand flashed. A shrill scream followed, and the captured player’s wrist and ankle were cruelly severed.
Huge streams of blood gushed out from the wounds. White bones protruded from the flesh. The heart-wrenching wailing stung everyone’s eardrums, causing the listeners to tremble involuntarily.
Bright, fresh blood stained Ivy’s pale cheeks. Her eyeballs moved stiffly. She lowered her arm, and the blood flowed down along the blade, dripping onto the sandy ground which drank it up greedily.
Surprisingly, she didn’t continue to kill the wailing player, didn’t saw through his throat or dig out his knees, but instead, let him roll around in his own blood, as if she had planned to just render him immobile and use him as a vessel for bloodletting.
Mo Yi’s gaze lingered on the patch of soil which had absorbed the blood.
Ivy slowly dissipated again.
Everyone’s hearts were tense, their scalps numb. They ran desperately in the opposite direction, as if that could help them escape Ivy’s sight.
Contrary to them, Mo Yi started sprinting towards the blood-red land in the centre.
He tore off the bandage secured around his palm. Clenching his teeth, he shoved his fingers deep into the bloody wound then gave it a sharp yank, mercilessly tearing off a large chunk of flesh.
Warm blood burst forth, gushing freely from the open wound, leaving an almost scorching temperature against his icy skin.
The agonising pain was so severe that it made Mo Yi’s eyes go dark. The sharp pain stimulated his peripheral nerves, tugging at his brain fiercely. The excessive blood loss dulled his thinking.
According to the human skin book, an extremely large amount of blood was required for the last stage of the sacrifice.
To escape from the collapsing sand house earlier, one must release a lot of blood, so the first person Ivy targeted was the player with the deepest wound and bled the most.
But now, that target has changed to him.
Mo Yi clenched his teeth. The faint taste of rust permeated his mouth. and his mouth seemed to be filled with a faint smell of rust. As if he could not feel the pain, he pressed his fingertips hard into his wound, and he had already touched the wound under the thin skin. Mori white bones.
More blood trickled down his fingers.
Sharpening his will, he focused his attention on the only contrasting colour within the wide expanse of blood-red soil in his vision.
The tombstone.
He had to get as close to it as possible.
The air in front of him gradually began distorting, and Ivy’s figure slowly condensed before him.
Mo Yi’s shortness of breath was like a raging fire smothering his throat, and his chaotic heartbeat thundered in his ears.
The blade soared high in mid-air, its cold glint flashing in the corner of his eye!
Perhaps it was because he had been on guard this whole time, Mo Yi’s reaction was quick. He stopped abruptly, taking a large step back swiftly and dodged that fatal attack!
Ivy turned stiffly, her stiff limbs moving clumsily as she prepared to attack him again.
Seizing this slight stall in time, Mo Yi met Ivy’s dull expressionless eyes.
“I know you are in there!”
Ivy’s movements halted imperceptibly, and Mo Yi keenly took the chance to open his mouth and hastily spoke.
“If you had no self-awareness, you would have cut the player’s throat open with a single action and let the blood gush out from his arteries. That way, you would have gotten more blood. But you chose to cut his wrist and ankles instead. That can only mean there’s still some conscious part that is resisting!”
Ivy’s features twitched. Her hands holding the handle of the knife grinded to a stop mid-air.
Mo Yi stared closely at her, anxiousness stirring in his heart. He didn’t think his words would be of any use to this soul who was already so deeply influenced. After all, his goal was not to shake her will—
Taking advantage of the moment when Ivy was distracted, he yelled.
“Now!”
Right at that moment, a figure shot out like an arrow from the shadows at the corner of the wall!
Yu Ran’s eyes brightened. She was holding a kitchen knife which looked exactly like the one in Ivy’s hand, and she rushed towards the two children standing on the blood-red ground with the vigour of someone on their last breath!
After Mo Yi’s whispered instructions earlier, Yu Ran had binded her wrist tightly with the remaining portion of her bandages to limit her rate of blood loss. Then, under the frantic chaos of the escaping players, she made her way towards the centre of the plot.
And the reason why her plans went so smoothly was because Mo Yi had acted as a bait to draw Ivy’s attention with blood.
When Ivy noticed the changes in the next moment, her ashen face twisted instantly and her pitch-black eyes which were shaken by Mo Yi’s words earlier instantly ignited with roaring flames of anger.
Her twisted and vicious expression looked terrifyingly weird, and the fierceness rolling in the depths of her eyes instilled an inexplicable fear in everyone.
A hoarse roar came from her throat, so raw and guttural that it seemed almost otherworldly. Then, with the ferocity of an angered lioness who had lost her cub, she abandoned Mo Yi who was standing beside her, and set her sights on Yu Ran, rushing straight towards her!
Mo Yi drew in a deep breath. He rushed to the open and empty tomb with wide strides—
And leapt right into it.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m