The Eleventh Year of Making Hate with My Lover - Chapter 6

The sound-activated light turned on. Shen Wang was momentarily stunned; it was the same ship captain who had brought them yesterday.

“Where are you going?”

The captain clearly hadn’t expected someone to come down from upstairs either. After his initial shock, he stroked his beard and said, “Little brother, what a coincidence. I heard someone shouting upstairs and wanted to come see what was happening.” He glanced into the elevator, clicking his tongue: “Why is there a dead body here… Oh, he looks a bit familiar. Isn’t this the doctor from the clinic next door?”

“You recognize him?” Wu Que glanced at him.

“I recognize him, alright. I live here every day; I’m quite familiar with this place.”

Suzawa asked urgently: “Then do you know how to get to the third underground level? The elevators here only go to the first-floor lobby.”

The captain rubbed his nose, his peripheral vision constantly stealing glances at Wu Que: “I know… follow me.”

The captain led the three of them to a staircase on the west side. Beside the stairwell were two flights of stairs leading downward, and in the corner sat an inconspicuous utility room.

The captain glanced at the surveillance camera above his head and said, “I’ll go cover that up.”

“No need, I’ve got it.” Shen Wang looked at the camera on the wall and flicked his fingers slightly. A black, fluid substance quickly stuck to the camera, hugging the wall seams.

Watching this, Suzawa was surprised to see that he was truly a Spirit-Awakening Master.

“I know this ability of yours. S-rank, right? It can change shape, can’t it?” The captain’s inquisitive gaze landed on his hands.

“Don’t ask things you shouldn’t.” Shen Wang manifested a short blade in his hand and pointed it threateningly: “You, yourself, seem quite suspicious.”

Shen Wang narrowed his eyes in vigilance; this man knew too much. His ability allowed him to condense and shape anything using “Mysterious Water,” but more importantly, it could transform into “Puppet Threads” to control living or even dead objects. He had only learned these details from the system after waking up.

“I really am just a kind-hearted passerby.” The captain raised both hands, walked to the utility room door, and pushed it; the iron door didn’t budge an inch.

The captain chuckled: “Let me show you my ability.”

He bit his finger and smeared blood on the door. Moments later, a transparent doorknob appeared.

Twisting the knob, a pitch-black void was revealed behind the door. Listening closely, one could hear the sound of wind.

The walls were covered in inscriptions that emitted a faint green glow, and a secret passage leading downward lay right before them.

They followed the dark passage for about a hundred meters when a pair of hands suddenly reached out from a corner.

The captain, who was in the lead, nearly had his face clawed; fortunately, he rolled away quickly.

A creature in the corner, dragging rotten legs and twitching all over, lunged at them. Suzawa screamed, nearly fainting from the sight. The captain had to brace her to keep her standing.

Shen Wang’s movements were clean and efficient as he sliced off its head.

The head rolled on the ground, its swollen eyes staring blankly at them. What was worse, it wasn’t dead yet; it mumbled vaguely: “Don’t… inject… me… don’t…”

“…What… is this…” Suzawa swallowed hard, struggling to find her voice.

“Whatever biochemical experiment this is.” Shen Wang kicked it away in disgust: “It’s even more disgusting than a supernatural entity.”

Wu Que watched the corpse on the ground without much expression, stepped over it, and walked into a circular stone chamber ahead. In the center, a pedestal was engraved with complex patterns, seemingly a ritual array. There were two tunnels, one on the left and one on the right, stretching into the abyss.

“Which way?” The captain, who was quite daring, thought for a moment and stepped into the right tunnel: “I’ll go scout the path.”

Suzawa had wanted to check the left side, but as an ordinary person, she knew she wouldn’t be able to escape if they encountered anything, so she decided to wait in place.

Shen Wang looked at the ritual array on the ground. In the center was a keyhole, surrounded by a ring, and around the ring were interlocking inscriptions. A line started from the ring and eventually merged back into it no matter how he looked at it, it looked like a dead end.

He released his Mysterious Water. The black liquid gathered in the keyhole, molding itself into the shape of a key, but since it wasn’t a real key, it couldn’t activate the array. He raised his arm, elongated the model, and gripped the end in his hand.

“How did we end up back here?” Five minutes later, the captain returned, rubbing his head, having come back from the left exit.

This confirmed Shen Wang’s suspicions. He gripped the mold tightly and turned the ring with force. Instantly, dust flew and the ground shook slightly; the exits on both the left and right were sealed shut.

When the ring turned to the longest inscription, a wall directly in front of them groaned and retracted upward, revealing an elevator stained with blood.

This was the hidden elevator.

Shen Wang stood by the elevator door and pressed the button for -3. However, the elevator suddenly stopped at the second underground level. A white-robed person walked in with their head down, locking eyes with them.

“Good evening.” Shen Wang smiled faintly, grabbed the hilt of his blade, and knocked the person out cleanly.

The white-robed people behind wanted to flee, but were bundled up by Shen Wang’s Puppet Threads. Shen Wang stripped off their clothes perfect, one for each.

The white robes had wide hoods, which were just enough to cover most of their faces.

Now, where to hide these people… Looking left and right, there were only long corridors, and both sides were lined with rooms; he didn’t know what was behind the doors.

The captain saw his hesitation: “Leave it to me.”

He used blood to draw a circle on the wall; the wall became transparent and soft like melting matter. The captain gave it a push and shoved the bundle of people inside.

“Where did you send them?”

“The bathroom upstairs.”

“Not bad…”

Beside him, Wu Que had already changed his clothes and walked into the corridor, standing in front of the nearest door, looking at something.

Shen Wang scanned the area roughly; each room door along the corridor had a wooden tag with a number, arranged in sequence starting from “20.” A faint scent of disinfectant floated in the air, attempting to cover up the peculiar odors leaking from the door cracks.

The room Wu Que was looking at was Room 21. There was no movement inside, but a pungent smell of blood wafted out. Shen Wang used his Puppet Threads to scout, ensuring there were no living creatures inside before pushing the door open.

The sight before them made the group reflexively cover their noses a person lay on the bed, unrecognizable, their body swollen, skin a purplish-blue, the blood already drained, staining the snow-white sheets red.

There was an empty injector in the trash can by the bed.

Room 22 next door was even more gruesome. Lying on the bed wasn’t a person, but a dead, deformed supernatural entity; the monster’s eyeball had fallen off the bed and rolled into a pool of green vomit that emitted a strongly irritating odor.

“…I don’t think I’ll want to eat tomorrow,” Shen Wang said, shaking his head as he walked out.

The rooms further down were the same either dead people or supernatural entities. The captain and Suzawa, following behind, had faces that had turned green.

It wasn’t until Room 29 that a faint scream was heard from within. Through the door crack, several white-robed figures were seen pushing a green reagent into the patient’s body.

The person on the bed began to struggle violently after the injection; their body visibly and rapidly deformed, bones cracking, transforming in an instant from a person into a lump of deformed monster. It dragged its gooey body off the bed, grabbed the nearest experimental personnel, and began to devour them, sending blood flying.

The captain cursed under his breath: “Fuck, one shot and they turn into a monster.”

Shen Wang couldn’t help but frown: “…Eradicating supernatural entities is troublesome enough as it is, and here are people making artificial versions.”

“If the experiment succeeded, I’d thank them, as I’ve long since grown tired of this work,” Shen Wang let out a cold laugh: “However, adding to everyone else’s workload is not a good thing.”

The alienated human became a mutant entity and was shot dead by the researchers who had finally reacted.

“Another failure. Let’s go, next room.”

“It’s lucky we have some successful ones on the third underground level; otherwise, I wouldn’t know what to use for the ritual this month.”

While they were speaking, their equipment beeped: [The experimental subject in Room 29 on the third underground level has escaped. Move to Elevator 3 immediately.]

Shen Wang and his group hid in the room next door, watching them rush to the elevator entrance.

“Ding—” The elevator was intercepted at the second underground level.

A girl rushed out of the elevator, her hair disheveled and sticking to her face. A whip formed from supernatural energy appeared in her hand, and anyone who got close was whipped into a bloody mess.

“It’s Lili!” Suzawa recognized her immediately and tried to rush up, but was held back and gagged by the captain.

In the midst of the struggle, another person ascended in the elevator. He didn’t fear the whip at all, grabbing Lili by the neck: “Wild cats never listen.”

Shen Wang’s Puppet Threads pierced through the crowd, trying to wrap around Lili, but were deflected by a barrier the man released.

“To think you could track us here.” The lead white-robed man removed his hood; it was Lin Xu. He looked at Shen Wang and said: “You are excellent nourishment, but it is a pity I cannot capture you.”

After leaving behind a cryptic remark, Lin Xu activated his ability, and the surrounding space began to distort.

“It’s him!” Suzawa heard the strange sound from the night before again: “It’s this ability; he’s about to transport Lili away!”

His speed was incredible; in just a few seconds, they had vanished into the corridor. In those few seconds, Wu Que quickly turned back into a jellyfish and landed in one of the person’s hoods. Shen Wang only had time to hook a hidden Puppet Thread onto his tentacle, with the end tied to his own finger bone.

“He transported to an island.” Shen Wang sensed Wu Que’s location through the thread. With a swing of his Mysterious Water blade, he deflected the people chasing behind them.

“I know where it is; that’s where they’re performing the ritual.” The captain bit his finger, drew a door in mid-air, and roared: “Dammit, who isn’t a space-type user? My entrance exam score was first place!!”

“What kind of coordinates did you send us to?” Suzawa clutched the tree trunk, terrified of falling. The group had landed on an old, crooked tree.

“I can only transport to places I’ve walked to myself. Don’t be so picky; the view here is pretty good.”

It was indeed quite good except for the way it was digging into his legs.

Shen Wang sat on the branch with his legs bent. It was fortunate that this was a century-old tree, strong enough to support them all.

To the left of the tree was a massive building with very high walls. They couldn’t climb over it from the tree, but they could vaguely see what was happening in the courtyard.

A giant altar had been built in the center of the courtyard, piled up from black reefs. At the top, over a dozen white bones were stuck, wrapped with dried seaweed and tattered rags. The moonlight shone on the altar, reflecting an eerie luster, and one could vaguely see the dense, crisscrossing incantations carved into it.

“This altar… could it be that the ritual is starting today?” The captain turned his head, only to find Shen Wang staring at him with a dark face, making him feel confused: “Although I admit you’re very handsome, can you please stop staring at me?”

Shen Wang remained silent. He grabbed his head and pulled it off…

Suzawa: “……”

Lang Xi: “….Eh?”

As the mask separated from the skin, the spiritual seal on it vanished, and what Shen Wang held in his hand became a pile of silicone. Beneath the captain’s false face was a sunny, handsome face with fluffy golden hair.

“You’ve given me quite a search.” Shen Wang looked at him coldly. Having experienced too many things tonight, Suzawa was no longer surprised. Seeing the strange atmosphere between the two, she decided to slide down the tree trunk first.

“?” Lang Xi touched his own face: “How did you find out?”

“I was suspicious the moment you appeared. I never expected…” Shen Wang sighed. He hadn’t expected that he was the unlucky fellow in his own team.

The person he had been looking for was right in front of him.

“You were observing us back in the restaurant that day, weren’t you?”

“Ah, yes.” Lang Xi scratched his head: “I sensed you weren’t alone when you boarded the ship. I was right in the hotel when I discovered you and Inspector Wu.”

“But I couldn’t see clearly at the time, and I didn’t dare to go up and ask. You both weren’t at the base when I joined, and I had only seen your photos they were quite blurry…”

“It was only when I saw your ability that I was sure of your identities.”

Shen Wang frowned: “Then why didn’t you say anything when we were underground?”

Lang Xi felt wronged: “How would I know you were here to look for me? You didn’t know me. If you thought I was a scammer, I’d have an even harder time explaining.”

“But seeing you two actually appear together, I was really surprised.” Lang Xi was a gossip at heart and kept chattering: “The rumors at the base all said that you and Inspector Wu had a messy breakup, turned from love to hate, and wouldn’t want to see each other ever again…”

“……” Shen Wang felt annoyed by the chatter: “Get to the point.”

Lang Xi said “Oh,” pulled the mission file from his chest, and pointed to the black shadow with the human body and snake tail: “Lelis, a C-level supernatural entity. Ability: Blessing, Illusion. It likes to devour the spiritual cores of Spirit-Awakening Masters. Currently haunting Fish-Leaping Town in the West.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“……”

Wasn’t the preliminary investigation for this task a bit too sloppy?

Lang Xi complained: “I’ve been here for three months. I can make normal calls, but I’ve never been able to connect to the base signal. The mission file says it’s C-level, but based on my observations, it’s at least B+.”

“These islanders are accomplices, using tourists as test subjects just to evolve ability users to feed to this supernatural entity.”

He hugged Shen Wang’s thigh: “Captain, help! How can the base let an auxiliary work alone!”

Shen Wang pushed him away in disgust. He had just reached out his hand when he heard the very faint sound of a fine thread snapping.

The Puppet Thread that connected him to Wu Que, which had been tied to his finger bone, had snapped.