Reincarnated In a Cthulhu World And Everyone Is Obsessed With Me - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Shadow

The Reapers wandering in the dark.

“Brother Chengfeng, how are you feeling right now?”

Yin Chengfeng replied steadily, “My heart is racing.”

Ruan Congyun exhaled a long breath. “My hands are shaking… I really want to meet this Guide soon.”

The Shadow Guild wouldn’t mind taking in a powerful S-Rank Guide—in fact, it was exactly what they dreamed of.

By the time the two reached the bar, a swath of Sentinels had already collapsed within Paradise Lost. Unable to withstand the mental manipulation of a Guide far above their level, they were on the brink of collapse, showing early signs of a manic outbreak.

Ruan Congyun reached out to touch the translucent blue shield hiding the bar. “Well, that’s great. Looks like Nie Yinniang has locked the place down.”

He glanced back and saw falcon feathers sprouting from Yin Chengfeng’s arms. Ruan Congyun was stunned. Yin Chengfeng was an A-Rank Sentinel; if even his mental manifestation was bleeding into his physical body, then the next step… would likely be Ruan himself, an S-Rank.

Yin Chengfeng looked at his arms. “But I don’t feel any mental stinging. The Guide isn’t applying pressure. He doesn’t want to hurt or manipulate us. He’s just…” He searched for the words. “Purely leaking mental energy.”

Ha, leaking mental energy? What a luxury.

Ruan Congyun couldn’t help but laugh. “What is he doing? It can’t be that he doesn’t know how to use his Guide abilities yet, right?”

After a while, all the Sentinels in Paradise Lost gradually returned to normal. Then, a pulse of blue light swept through, and they vanished into thin air.

The mutations on Yin Chengfeng also disappeared. He noted, “That should be Time Manipulation… Everything in Paradise Lost has been reverted to the state before the pheromone overflow.”

Ruan Congyun clicked his tongue. “Why didn’t Nie Yinniang send us out too? The Guide certainly isn’t here anymore.”

Inside the bar.

Nie Yinniang pointed with her fan. “Sit.”

Ruan Congyun didn’t stand on ceremony, sitting down beside Yin Chengfeng. He glanced at the bar’s sign and flashed a “two” sign to Chesapeake. “Two Nyarlathotep Whiskies.”

Chesapeake shrank back, nodding timidly.

Admiring the Shadow Guild was one thing, but interacting with them was another. Seeing the Shadow Guild emblem so close, Chesapeake trembled so hard he could barely hold the glass.

As a retired Sentinel, the Nyarlathotep Domain hadn’t just disfigured him; it had completely destroyed his combat functions. He was now a defenseless ordinary person.

This meant he hadn’t stood on a battlefield in a very long time.

Yet the two men before him were conservatively estimated to be A-Rank, the very embodiment of the battlefield. Even with their mental energy suppressed, that cold, bloody, and lethal aura of war remained.

The Shadow Guild—”The Reapers wandering in the dark”—lived up to their terrifying reputation.

Ruan Congyun leaned his head on one hand, asking Chesapeake with interest, “Speaking of which, why aren’t you affected by the Guide?”

Chesapeake answered shakily, “Because… I belong to Paradise Lost…”

Nie Yinniang interrupted coldly, “Because he has already redeemed his soul to Paradise Lost.”

Ruan Congyun let out a long “Oh” and smiled at Chesapeake. “So, as long as Paradise Lost is stable, you remain stable as well, right?”

He looked at the name tag on Chesapeake’s chest, reading the name slowly. “Then, Chesapeake… are you even alive?”

Chesapeake froze for a second, then fell into a state of confusion. Blurred images of monsters, blood, blades, and death flashed before his eyes. He began to repeat mechanically, “Am I… still alive?”

His voice carried a slight static. His body flickered like a glitching hologram with a failing power supply, growing paler.

Nie Yinniang shot Ruan Congyun an impatient look. “This is exactly why I hate high-level Sentinels.”

She tapped Chesapeake on the head with her fan. A wisp of indigo light enveloped him, and he quickly returned to normal.

Chesapeake resumed making the two whiskies. To him, his memory had reverted to the moment before Ruan Congyun spoke to him.

Ruan Congyun squinted with a smile. “How magical.”

Yin Chengfeng was helpless. “Ruan, have you had your fun?” He turned to Nie Yinniang. “Why did you specifically keep us here?”

Nie Yinniang smiled. “As Mr. Ruan said, since we are doing business, one must show some sincerity first.”

She handed over two pieces of paper—entry and exit contracts for Paradise Lost. She fanned herself quickly, as if truly bothered by the scent of two high-level Sentinels.

“Sentinels and Guides of A-Rank and above are honored guests of Paradise Lost. This is the special treatment I give you.” She emphasized the last few words with a hint of a threat.

Ruan Congyun scanned the document. Essentially, they weren’t allowed to cause trouble in Paradise Lost—and, preferably, they shouldn’t come back.

Nie Yinniang said, “Sign it, gentlemen.”

Ruan Congyun’s fingertip brushed the paper. He smiled. “Why do I feel the fluctuation of an ‘Ability’ on this? Is there some hidden clause that triggers once we sign?”

Nie Yinniang smiled back. “Who knows? After all, you have stepped into Paradise Lost.” As she spoke, the silhouette of her mental manifestation flickered behind her.

It was said that Nie Yinniang was a reclusive S-Rank, which was why she could control the entire Domain effortlessly.

In their brief encounter, Ruan Congyun felt no mental energy from her. This meant either she had none at all, or her rank was higher than his own—a situation he had only ever encountered with his own Leader.

Ruan Congyun didn’t want to gamble on the odds, so he swallowed the loss.

After Yin Chengfeng signed, there was no backlash. Still, Ruan Congyun wasn’t at ease. “Have any other S-Ranks signed this?”

“Yes.” Nie Yinniang beckoned him closer. Ruan Congyun leaned in, and she whispered in his ear, “Ao Nie.”

Chief Ao had already died in battle, so…

Ruan Congyun clicked his tongue. “So, basically no one.” After signing, he felt his power notably weakened.

A total loss.

The two Nyarlathotep Whiskies were ready. Chesapeake pushed them forward. “Enjoy.”

In a bad mood, Ruan Congyun swirled his glass. He said to Chesapeake, “No one who has actually been to the Nyarlathotep Domain would have an interest in a drink named after Him.”

He smiled. “Do you know what the prayer written on the core stele says?”

Ruan Congyun looked into the chaotic colors of the liquor and lowered his voice:

“Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, I shall speak to your void; Vast, gloomy, ultimate deity, blind, voiceless, misshapen monster, I shall dance for your ill omens; Ancient, consistent, immortal, from the stars, the Great Nyarlathotep—”

Because his mental energy was being suppressed, Ruan Congyun felt the long-lost mental pollution of the Nyarlathotep stele as he spoke those words. A surge of intense pain and dizziness hit him.

Chesapeake glitched again, his silhouette flickering.

Nie Yinniang had reached her limit. “Stop breaking my bartender!”

With a flash of blue light, Ruan Congyun and Yin Chengfeng were thrown out of Paradise Lost—literally. They rolled on the ground before flipping to their feet.

Ruan Congyun stretched. “Ah, it feels good to have my power unsuppressed. By the way, how was the whiskey?” He hadn’t had a chance to sip it.

The usually stoic Yin Chengfeng showed a hint of a smile. “To be honest, it was quite good.” He had downed the whole glass in one go right before Nie Yinniang kicked them out.

The air around them held no scent of Guide pheromones; Nie Yinniang had likely sealed them off. Ruan Congyun shrugged regretfully. “Forget it. Let’s go back and report to the Leader.”

…

Xia Mingyu went to a small, hole-in-the-wall eatery he used to frequent in his previous life for dinner. Thinking back, he hadn’t eaten since he was reborn. He was starving.

Xia Mingyu blinked, activating the Star-Net chip implanted deep in his brain. His pupils flashed faint blue—then red. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, they had returned to normal.

His Star-Net account was overdue again.

In this new life, he was still dirt poor.

Xia Mingyu decided to ask for credit to eat a bowl of the cheapest porridge.

When the owner saw Xia Mingyu’s strikingly beautiful face asking for “credit,” he thought the man was about to take out a loan to buy his entire building. Then he heard Xia Mingyu say calmly, “One bowl of Nutrient Porridge.”

The owner was silent. “What?” A nutrient pack alone was enough for a meal. What on earth was Nutrient Porridge?

Xia Mingyu explained, “Just mix some rice into the nutrient pack and boil it for me.”

“…” He had never heard such a strange request. “Sure… sure thing.”

Xia Mingyu knew his tastes were odd. But there was no helping it; having lived in the apocalypse for ten years, he still couldn’t get used to nutrient meal replacements.

His stomach remained loyal to the first nineteen years of his life: if there was no rice, it wasn’t a meal.

As he ate, he listened to a group of Sentinels gossiping at the next table. They thought they were being quiet, but Xia Mingyu heard everything clearly.

“When I went to the Sentry Tower for a mental grooming today, I saw a D-Rank Sentinel covered in black smoke. His chest was blown through by an Ability Gun, but he kept laughing on the stretcher. It was terrifying.”

“Is that a symptom of mental pollution from a recent Domain? I haven’t heard of it.”

The Sentinel lowered his voice. “I heard from a B-Rank that the Domain he entered was called ‘Paradise Lost.’ It’s a domesticated Domain right inside… Southern Base No. 1.”

The others were so shocked they nearly flipped the table. “Inside the Base?!”

The owner shouted, “Hey! Easy! You break it, you buy it!”

The Sentinels brushed him off and continued.

“That Domain is mysterious. The entrance is hard to find, and the entry conditions are strict.” He took a swig of beer. “Only desperate outlaws would go there for fun.”

He leaned in. “Those Guide pheromone pills we bought illegally the other day? Rumor has it they were produced in Paradise Lost. There’s a whole black market industry inside.”

“That many pills?! How many Guides do they have to keep captive for that?”

“God, I really want to go in and see.”

“But that D-Rank’s death was stomach-churning. I’m not risking it…”

“Sounds like a place where a psycho could crack a code, pull out an Ability Gun, and blow your brains out at any second—Bang!“

“Psh, it’s called Paradise Lost; of course it’s a paradise for villains. Honestly, I’m starting to like gambling. After all, every time we enter a Domain, we’re gambling that the pollution won’t be that bad, right?”

“Then next time you better gamble that the Domain doesn’t mutate into an S-Rank.”

“Hahaha… Mutate to S-Rank? That’s a one-in-a-hundred-thousand chance. Lower than the odds of awakening an ‘Ability.’ It won’t happen to me.”

“True. Otherwise, those mutated Domains wouldn’t be legends.” They clinked glasses. “Don’t all those big shots get famous because of those legends?”

When they left, they realized the person who had been sitting nearby with their face covered was gone. The stool was already cold.

One of the Sentinels let out a drunken burp, remembering a brief glimpse he’d caught of the person’s eyes. They were stunningly bright. But since they covered their face, they must be disfigured, right?

What a shame. He hadn’t seen eyes that beautiful in a long time… the last time was when his lover had fallen into his arms, eyes full of tears.

That had been their final meeting across the line of life and death.