An infinite journey starting from paradise

"please help me!"

The moment he wanted to shout out, he saw the scene illuminated by the flames and couldn't make a sound.

Surprise, fear, confusion, anger... a mixture of emotions blocked Lin Shangren's throat. This was not a deliberate act, the scene before him really caught Lin Shangren off guard.

“Don’t…don’t…”

A young girl who seemed to have met Lin Shangren once in a false memory was being torn, bitten, and violated... One man was violating her from behind by shaking his waist, while another was biting her throat in front of her.

"Help... Let me go... I can't hold any more... Ugh... Gurgle... Gurgle..."

The girl was pierced by multiple steel bars at the same time and screamed as if she was vomiting blood.

Countless people, countless men and women, overlap and hurt each other.

Limbs, blood, goop, screams, feces and urine... all the violence and filth mixed together. Lin Shangren felt that this place was even more terrifying than the mad people's pre-apocalyptic revelry in "Devilman".

"Is this hell?"

Lin Shangren stood there in a daze. He smelled the smell of flames burning protein and could imagine what was burning in the fire.

"Don't look... Don't look..."

Lin Shangren's eyes were dull, and he murmured softly:

"I've already escaped, and everything should be back to normal. I went to class with Ye in the morning, attended classes, and participated in club activities after class... I chatted with everyone in the dormitory about some unimportant topics..."

"Escape from that white room... If I escape, everything will return to normal...!"

Why...why did this happen?

"Yeah! Aa ...

Lin Shangren fell to his knees and screamed hysterically.

"Ah la~ We're already here."

Familiar voice.

Across a certain distance, the sound clearly reached Lin Shangren's ears, and his earlobe felt like it was being licked by someone's tongue.

"That's a pretty good look of despair."

As if being manipulated by the voice, Lin Shangren turned his head mechanically.

In the light of the fire, Hehuan was looking at Lin Shangren with a playful expression.

"You...? Did you do all this?! Manaka Kagami!!!"

"Yeah, I did it all."

He Huan gave Lin Shangren a mocking smile:

"Whether it's the game in the underground white room or this hell on the ground, I designed and implemented them all.

Hehehe…your poor little head has forgotten everything that happened here? That’s right…after all, memory blocking is the minimum requirement for participating in the underground game. But, I am the one who decides all this, huhuhuhu~”

He Huan's face was twisted with pleasure and sadism. "How is it? After knowing that I was the mastermind behind all this, how do you feel? How do you feel?"

"asshole!"

Looking at Lin Shangren, whose eyes were bloodshot, Hehuan said in a teasing tone: "Don't be so fierce~ Shangren-kun, you understand, right? Right before your eyes, the originally ordinary daily life has collapsed. But, look, a new world is born. This is the world ruled by me, and it is also the world that you have always longed for somewhere in your heart. A world that can fulfill all your wishes..."

"Is that so?"

Beneath his furious appearance, Lin Shangren's extremely calm brain seemed to have captured some key information.

He Huan continued, "You can be my pet... Hehe, I really want to see you tear your rationality to pieces because of anger. Lose all your reason and dignity, and let me control you..."

"Stop joking!" Lin Shangren angrily interrupted Hehuan, "Who would do as you wish?!"

"Ahh, that's it, that helpless, furious look, it's so adorable. But, it's meaningless, because..."

He Huan clapped his hands and said, "Look... the bell prepared for your neck is already here."

"Shangren..."

Lin Shangren heard the sound of iron chains colliding and the hoarse voice of a girl. It was Ye.

Seeing Ye, chained by the neck, being led like a dog, Lin Shangren let out a cry of disgust and ran wildly towards Hehuan.

"catch him!"

"Surround him and don't let him get close to Master Manaka!"

Several boys surrounded Lin Shangren who was running wildly.

Facing the several people rushing towards him and facing the scene of being besieged, Lin Shangren seemed to see familiar fragments of memory.

He was also beaten by male high school students in black school uniforms, but the scene in his memory seemed to be in the old school building that Lin Shangren had just explored.

"There are two people rushing in front of us, and there are a few more in the distance. We can break out from there. Is that the bench leg in your hand? Although there is a natural gap between bare hands and armed, it also depends on the person."

Lin Shangren's mind automatically recalled the teachings of Mr. Chen Hegao: when facing the illegal infringement of criminals, one should give priority to attacking their vital points and strive to kill them with one blow to ensure that he and other innocent people can be spared from harm.

"First, you have to scream... to intimidate your opponent, then mobilize your own adrenaline and get yourself excited!"

The man's wooden stick came towards Lin Shangren's head. His movements were fast, but in Lin Shangren's eyes, they became very slow:

Born with powerful dynamic vision, high-speed thinking ability, strong reasoning ability, rich anatomical knowledge, superb practical skills... These factors combined allow Lin Shangren to be like Robert Downey Jr.'s version of Sherlock Holmes, predicting the opponent's moves and instantly analyzing the opponent's weaknesses in close combat.

With this skill, Lin Shangren became the most handsome pig slaughterer in the agricultural college's breeding department in his previous life.

"I dodged the blow sideways, then used my knee to strike his vitals. At the same time, 0.6 seconds later, I threw a right fist to hit the other man's throat."

"No, I can't use my right hand... My right arm seems to be protecting someone. Then I'll use my shoulder to hit him!"

The fusion of memory and reality only left Lin Shangren in a trance for a moment. The next moment, his body faithfully carried out the command of his brain. A flying knee smashed the lower body of the attacker, and another punch sealed the throat, leaving the other man unable to resist.

"Throw the flashlight at that person's face, get close enough, and side-kick the knee of the person on the right, then use the momentum to rush towards Hehuan. Maybe I should hit him harder? They're not alive anyway..."

Just when Lin Shangren was about to give these virtual people a little shock with his mad dog punch, the boys who had originally rushed towards him suddenly turned around and wrestled with several other guys who came to stop Lin Shangren.

"What's going on? Internal strife?"

Just when Lin Shangren was about to throw the flashlight in his hand, his arms were held by a pair of slender arms with all their strength.

The sudden resistance nearly caused Lin Shangren to fall forward, but fortunately he took a big step forward and stopped. He turned around and wanted to attack the person who blocked his way, but he saw Bai Ye Linyin's calm face.

"You can't go there... The beast in your heart will kill the person most important to you. Come with me and escape first."

"Kill...the most important person?"

"Shangren!"

He heard Fan Kariye's cries.

"Shangren, please, run away!"

Lin Shangren caught a glimpse of Fan Qieye locked with iron chains out of the corner of his eye.

"Are you saying that I might kill Homariya? Or...?"

While thinking, Lin Shangren looked in the direction of Fan Qiye, who was shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Ye! I will definitely come back to save you!"

The moment their eyes met, Lin Shangren saw her expression clearly: there was no uneasiness or fear about her imprisonment, but absolute trust in Lin Shangren's words. She nodded at Lin Shangren.

"That look of absolute trust... I seem to have seen it somewhere..."

Lin Shangren's consciousness was a little dazed again. He saw a girl with crimson eyes running towards him.

"Big brother, I knew you would come back!"

"Follow me!" x2

The sound of his own shouting in memory merged with the sound of Byakuya Rin'in's voice. Lin Shangren, having regained consciousness, was grabbed by Rin'in's right hand, and the two ran towards the darkness of the night, beyond the reach of the flames.

Chapter 20: Half-truth and Half-false Background

Lin Shangren followed Lin Yin's footsteps and ran into the forest.

He turned around to make sure there were no pursuers behind him.

"This way."

Lin Yin suddenly ran off the mountain path, pushing aside the weeds and heading deeper into the bushes. Lin Shangren followed her footsteps and also went into the bushes.

A small pit had formed between the weeds and bushes, and they huddled together, holding their breath and hiding. Through the thin fabric, Lin Shangren could feel Lin Yin's heartbeat; she seemed genuinely nervous.

After hiding for a while and confirming that there were no pursuers, Linyin finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Huh, okay, no one is chasing us. Let's go."

"You're really cautious, huh? So, where are we going?"

"Find a companion, follow me."

Linyin turned around and motioned Lin Shangren to follow her. After walking for a while, Linyin pushed aside a bush and revealed something that looked like a pipe.

"Do you want to get in?" Lin Shangren asked.

Rinyin nodded.

Lin Shangren then asked, "Do you need me to be in front? After all... you are wearing a skirt."

"It doesn't matter. Just follow me."

After climbing through the pipe and reaching a slope, Lin Shangren observed the simulated scene around him and fell into deep thought:

"Interesting. The Paradise system clearly needed to conserve computing power and reuse assets in the white room, but here it becomes incredibly realistic. Aside from the starry sky not matching the seasonal environment, there are practically no flaws."

What if the flaw in the white room was a deliberate warning from He Huan? Hum~ If that's the case, then why did she do that before and why did she choose to continue to advance the plot?

Yes, I took the risk of confronting her based on the assumption that the number of people behind the park was limited. If there were only a few enemies in reality, I could definitely fight them with Eagle Finger and a sure-hit attack. Plus, I had the system to back me up, so I could escape at any time. That's why I dared to return my consciousness to reality.

But in reality, I knew virtually nothing about the outside world. If I were to rush back to reality, I'd likely encounter all sorts of unknown dangers. So, Hehuan was protecting me.

It was my fault. I only labeled her a friendly, but treated her like an NPC. After I was sure I wouldn't die, I started to deal with everything like a gamer. This wave of mine..."

Just as Lin Shangren was analyzing the current situation and reflecting on himself, he and Lin Yin had already walked out of the bushes and came to a rock wall that seemed to be cut at an angle, with a dense stone formation and bushes in front of it.

Lin Shangren looked up and found the remains of a building on the platform above the stone wall. Judging from the debris on it, this place has probably been abandoned for decades.

Linyin ran towards the stone wall. She stopped in the shadow of the tree-covered rocks and glanced at Lin Shangren, as if signaling him to come over.

As he got closer, Lin Shangren saw a rusty metal door between the bushes. It was only half a person's height, and because it was blocked by the bushes, it was difficult for ordinary people to find it.

Rinyin whispered something into a gap next to the door, and then the door opened.

Lin Shangren followed Lin Yin into the cave, which was quite spacious. With the light of candles around, Lin Shangren could see the situation inside the cave clearly:

Inside the cave stood a dozen or so people, both men and women, all students wearing the same school uniforms as Lin Shangren and Lin Yin. Strangely, they were also wearing headgear resembling those of the Falun Gong group.

They came towards Lin Yin and Lin Shangren and said, "Master, you are back."

"Teacher?"

These people's names for Lin Yin aroused Lin Shangren's interest.

"Could this be a cult? Just out of the tiger's den, into the wolf's den? Is that how the plot is set up?"

Facing the earnest greetings from the believers, Lin Yin simply nodded. She turned to Lin Shangren and said, "Come with me. I know you have many questions to ask."

Lin Shangren followed Lin Yin to a separate room deep in the cave. The room was hung with rags with strange patterns painted on them, and pages of books with strange symbols painted on them were scattered on the ground.

The strangest thing is that in the very center of the room is a female mummy sitting cross-legged.

"She's my mother, and also the first leader here." Lin Yin said to Lin Shangren, "This place, or the area above it, was originally an illegal research institute. They kidnapped many ordinary people from all over the country and performed various experiments on them. My mother was one of them."

Faced with Lin Yin's somewhat abrupt background explanation, Lin Shangren chose to listen quietly.

After his analysis just now, he was sure that Hehuan chose to continue to advance the game, on the one hand to protect him, and on the other hand to be able to indirectly inform him of the situation outside.

This was also proven by the fragments of memory of the lost three days that emerged in his mind when he was just in the academy.

"Research institute, human experiments... Is this to explain the origin of the paradise system?" Lin Shangren pondered.

"The people at the research institute did many cruel things to her. The constant torture drove her insane. She suffered from numerous hallucinations and believed she had received divine revelation. However, her crazy words and bizarre theories captivated a large number of experimental subjects at the research institute.

Perhaps to stay together for warmth, they formed a cult with my mother at its core. The members of the cult helped each other and waited for an opportunity to escape the institute. This underground cave was the one they secretly dug during that time.

In the end, they succeeded, burning down the institute and escaping. After escaping, most of the cult chose to return to normal life. Only my mother remained in her own mad dream. She sent me to an orphanage and returned here, dying in her dream and becoming what she is now.

However, thanks to her, if I didn’t have this cave, I really don’t know where to hide… Ugh… Ah…”

At this point, Linyin suddenly covered her head in pain: "It seems... not right... my head... my head hurts."