Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 256 Unknown
—Why did this thing activate at this time?

However, the moment this thought flashed through his mind, Zhou You was suddenly plunged into an illusion.

He suddenly saw a humid and sultry rainforest, and his newly born self was bewildered as he experienced the surrounding scenery.

He saw the small body huddled under the leaves, trembling instinctively despite its lack of intelligence—while above him, a hungry predator was scurrying past.

He saw a seriously injured Taoist priest who had wandered into the mountains and forests. He slowly crawled onto the priest, dragging himself along the slippery, wet trail. Amidst the priest's helpless wails, he slowly penetrated the priest's flesh and blood until he finally had a body to cling to.

He saw that time passed without end in the mountains, and his body grew larger and larger, to the point that even the cave he lived in could no longer contain him. His former predators had become prey for him. But even though he was fearless, he didn't know why, but he always felt a strange unease lingering in his heart.

He also witnessed a grotesque drama of human nature unfolding amidst the vast mountains and forests. In the end, a man who appeared to be insane dragged a woman who had been nearly half-eaten, held her unseeing head in front of him, and shouted: "God!"
—The last thing he saw was that he was led to a celestial palace, surrounded by gods who only had one mouth and were laughing madly. And at the edge of his vision, in a chaotic place, a voice that was neither male nor female, but had an immensely terrifying quality, suddenly rang out.

"I grant you the position of an immortal, I grant you the chance for eternal life. You only need to do one thing: help me escape this prison. Remember, my name is—"

But the next moment, a crisp cracking sound rang out.

Looking down, I realized that the blue stone had exploded, no longer glowing as before. Only a few scattered points of light drifted out from it, and then, as if attracted, silently entered my body.

The system notification tone then sounded.

But strangely, this time, for some reason, the mechanical female voice sounded somewhat distorted.

"Dear player, you have obtained a fragment of [something]. Unfortunately, you cannot possess the fragment, but the [something] remaining within it has still entered your body. You have obtained [something]."

After several more 'sizzling' sounds, the system's sound returned to normal.

"Your basic abilities have been enhanced due to the influence of an unknown power."

"Your unknown abilities in the Jing Shen Bait Song have been directly bypassed the 'tempering' stage and revealed due to the influence of this unknown power."

"The Jing Shen Food Song has undergone some mutations, losing certain characteristics, but at the same time gaining a special passive ability: Dragon Body."

"Because you bathed your entire body in the blood of a celestial dragon and personally killed the dragon king 'Dorashiki', ending his thousands of years of suffering and earning his heartfelt gratitude, you will gain some of the characteristics of a celestial dragon."

"Effect 1: The bloodline of the Heavenly Dragon flows in your veins, all Yin Ghost type units will greatly reduce the damage to you, and you will not fall into a state of panic under any circumstances."

"Effect 2: A part of your body has transformed into a dragon, and you will gain all ranged attack resistances that are not attached to spells/traits. You will also gain the dragon-specific trait: Ferocious Aura."

"Effect 3: You have obtained a 'Reverse Scale', which will automatically block a portion of the attacks for you (whether you realize it or not). After the 'Reverse Scale' is consumed, it will take seven days to grow back, and it can only be used twice per scenario."

The reward was quite generous, but unfortunately Zhou You didn't even bother to listen.

He stared straight at the stone, his eyes still seemingly still reeling from the shock he had just experienced.

What was that just now?
What exactly is above that Heavenly Palace?
What exactly is that cage they're talking about?
Too many thoughts flooded his mind, to the point that he felt like vomiting. Zhou You took two deep breaths, feeling the lingering stench and blood around him, before he could barely come back to his senses.

In just a few seconds, the stone lost all its luster, as if everything just now was an illusion. With a gentle breeze, it turned into dust and scattered away.

Just now.

Suddenly, a painful groan was heard.

Zhou You looked up and realized that the cult leader was still alive—probably because he killed the slug too quickly, the skeleton hadn't eaten it all—and was still standing on the altar, struggling to climb out.

—Seriously? I have to do this myself?
Zhou You clicked his tongue, then picked up the Broken Blade, preparing to kill the opponent directly.

...When he arrived at the destination, he was truly stunned. Half of the cult leader's body had been devoured, but he was not yet dead—though it was hardly better than death. The other half of his body had turned into a clump of slime, with his organs and intestines all mixed together in a mess. Only his head remained intact, floating in the slime.

Of course, these are not the point.

The key point is that Zhou You sensed another aura emanating from the cult leader.

Unlike the previous stone, this aura was filled with filth, even more foul than the surrounding flesh and filth. It was like a piece of disgusting chewing gum, once it stuck to you, it would be hard to get rid of.

Seeing Zhou You's hesitant expression, the cult leader, now only a head, seemed to remember something, and then grinned wildly, bursting into laughter.

"God, the god truly favors me! He bestowed upon me a blessing that no mortal dares to trespass upon. If you attempt to kill me, you will be cursed!!!"

No, even at this point, you still firmly believe in that deity?
—Besides, the way you're saying that makes you sound like one of those incredibly low-class villains, doesn't it?

Zhou You shook his head, just about to stab the opponent to finish him off—after all, there wasn't much of that aura, and he could slowly wear it down with his killing intent—but at that moment, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder.

Looking back, he found that Han Ruiming, who was clearly seriously injured and on the verge of death, was standing right behind him. Although his face was still pale and cold, his spirit had almost recovered.

Looking at that aged face, Zhou You subconsciously said.

"Old man, what's wrong with you?"

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a soft cough.

"I'll take care of this."

Zhou You stared at the other person for a few seconds, but finally stepped aside.

Han Ruiming lowered his head, his eyes appearing extremely cold—he seemed to have many things he wanted to say to the cult leader, but in the end, he simply took out a cigarette from his chest and lit it.

As he exhaled the smoke, only indifference remained on his old face.

"Over the years, I've considered many ways to punish you, from the lightest—sending you to court and having you shot—to the most severe—severing your limbs, gouging out your eyes, turning you into a human pig, and making you spend the rest of your life in extreme torture."

The old man suddenly let out a soft sigh.

"But now I just feel it's not worth it."

"Ali was such a good girl. She could have been a better policewoman than me, but she died at the hands of trash like you."

Looking at the ups and downs of that face, the old man finally just shook his head and then pulled the pistol out of his pocket.

"I once promised Ali that I would only use my gun to protect others and never for personal grudges. But to be honest, I handed that gun over when I left the company."

After smoking the last bit of his cigarette, the old man gently pulled the trigger.

"So, this isn't my gun either—"

There was a gunshot.

　PS: The original dragon species in Buddhism is actually quite different from the dragon species in China. Compared to the traditional dragon with scales and claws, it is more like a snake (and it is not actually called a dragon). However, in this worldview, the image used is a later adaptation. To prevent misunderstandings, I am explaining this here.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)