06 Waking up beside a corpse!
Although Tang Wei was only a second-degree cousin on their maternal side, which was a relatively distant relative, compared to Wang Bowen whose mother is Zi Yan's Third Aunt, she was quite close to Zi Yan. As the only daughter of the Zi Family's four children, she was treated by the girl like a big sister and would often confide in her.
So, when Zi Yan told her that Zi Xuan had asked him to stay with Bai Xiaotong, Tang Wei's mind immediately started calculating. She saw an opportunity to win favor by tagging along with Zi Yan and making a good impression on Zi Xuan's wife.
Everyone knew that after the chairman's death, it was Zi Xuan, not the eldest son, Zi Wen who held the real power in the family. If she let this chance slip away, her name wouldn't be Tang Wei.
But who could have predicted that this decision would almost cost her life? Had she known that this place was cursed, she would have gladly stayed home—even if it meant her father breaking off her legs!
Partly exhausted from tossing around, Tang Wei rolled to the edge of her bed and grabbed her phone from the bedside table. She stared at the screen filled with the rumbling and cries she had with her father.
Tang Wei gripped her phone tightly as if it were her lifeline.
"D-Dad, please... Hic!" she said tearfully in a trembling voice. "Please come quickly and take me away from this godforsaken place!"
Sob...
"I-I don't wanna be here anymore! I'm... really scared ahh!"
***
Shifting onto another place——Inside the desecrated room of a clinic, a frail figure of a young lady was lying still on an examination table unaware of the unfolding chaos crippling the normalcy and order.
A foul, putrid stench mingling with the waning smell of disinfectant, instantly hit her senses, snapping Bai Xiaotong's dazed consciousness back to life though not in the best of ways.
"Ow! My... head feels like cracking!" she recoiled from the tearing sensation but almost immediately, her face turned sickly green as soon as she picked up something horrid.
"Ugh! What was that smell—bleurgh!" Bai Xiaotong's face crumpled from sheer repugnance and started retching before she could even finish her words.
When Bai Xiaotong opened her eyes, Bai Xiaotong's eyes widened, and her body went stiff.
"What the fuck is— shit!" Bai Xiaotong panicked and almost fell from the restriction of the green-draped bed. How could she not?
The first thing she saw was the rotting, decaying face of a man inches from hers, sniffing her body like some blind rabid dog and she was the food platter served on a banquet table.
What the fuck is that thing? Darn!
As far as she could remember, she was never this weakhearted and sensitive. However, as far as she was quite accustomed to seeing a rotting corpse in the Murim World, it wasn't to the point where she wouldn't be bothered when seeing one right in front of her face literally inches away!
Well, it seems to be 'alive,' but it still looks terrible and is unpleasant on both sight and smell.
Did she go straight up to hell after losing consciousness and dying? Bai Xiaotong held so many grievances and so much injustice!
The unfamiliar environment was shrouded in darkness, interrupted only by erratic zaps of unstable fluorescent light, casting eerie shadows like a scene ripped straight from a thriller movie. A thick scent of decay clung to the air, seeping through the shattered remnants of unfamiliar glass-imbued pieces of equipment that she had only seen for the first time.
After blacking out from activating
'Am I really dead? Or am I alive and now living with a living dead for cutting off so many heads?'
A flickering holographic screen pulsed before her eyes. There's no way she could've still utilize the system if she was in the afterlife. So, did she successfully travel into a new world? But why does it look like a rotten mess instead of a lush greenery and blue skyline?
She stared at the screen, glitching with an ominous system alert.
[Warning: Cosmic System Integration Incomplete!]
[Error: User unable to log in. System functions locked.]
[Solution: Please use a catalyst to complete assimilation and extract world information.]
[Current Number of Catalyst: 0/1]
'Assimilate?'
That word again. She vaguely remembered something similar in a past system notice.
[System Notice: The Cosmic System operates under the laws of the universe, and as such, it cannot disclose information about independent worlds to external entities and alien lifeforms. Full details will only be revealed to the user after assimilation.]
But before she could piece it together, the unsettling groans of the undead echoed along with a sharp scream beyond the small room, sending a shiver down her spine.
"S-Stay away... AHH!"
"Save me pleaaaseee!"
'What? Are those a people's voice?' she wondered but quickly dismissed the thought.
'Nah, I shouldn't bother. My body feels too heavy to move. I can't feel my spiritual energy inside my core. If that's another hideous-looking creature… Err, nevermind. They must be playing some weird stuff and having fun on their own. This world feels more ominous than my world…'
Bai Xiaotong clenched her fists, brushing off the zombie's distracting ho-ho's. Now wasn't the time to think about other things—she needed answers.
The system will only provide her with the information she needs once she is completely 'assimilated into her parallel form.'
Does it mean she didn't get in here with her original body but had to merge with a body connected to herself in a parallel realm?
Bai Xioatong suddenly felt her heartbeat thumping unhealthily slow for a human, and caught a wisp of life within her.
Her face dimmed and grew tremendously concerned.