Chapter 39: One Who Survived

This was the most bizarre day Zhou Qi had ever experienced in his life. One thing popping up one after another. Not even giving him an ounce of rest at all.

In a twinkling of an eye, the crack in the space healed. The shattered space glass returning to what it was before as if time was on rewind.

Zhou Qi closed his eyes as cold sweat drizzled from his forehead. He huffed, dead tired, a sigh of relief bursting out of his stressed-out diaphragm.

It was one heck of a unique experience. He almost died. No, he had died, but had another chance. The feeling of getting your soul pulled out was one nasty experience.

Five minutes passed.

Zhou Qi's stout nerves relaxed. His body had finally slowly recovered a bit of its basic functions. The loan shark felt strange. He could feel this weird incompatibility with his body, as if some loonie had muddled his senses.

When Zhou Qi was about to stand up…

Rippled!

Zhou Qi shuddered anew as fear grasped his heart and bladder. Without further ado, he fell back to the floor. The hell is wrong with my luck today? Peeking, he saw a familiar monster tearing through the void.

Screech!

A few meters away from him, a dark hole slowly appeared, as if someone had poked space, like it was a balloon. But this time, there were no pale hands but crimson hands. The beaked mask void calamity appeared again.

Most of the void calamity's body remained hidden within the black hole. Slowly, the being emerged out of the shadows of the void, its crimson cloak appearing along with the whole body.

Why the hell is this guy still here! Zhou Qi's brain short-circuited. "Caka, unfinished business."

The crimson fingers did a pulling gesture, making Zhou Qi tremble and pale face. Did he forget me, his lunch? Zhou Qi thought.

But lucky…

It wasn't him.

Zhou Qi saw a smoky shadow flailing in the air.

The loan shark's lips quivered.

It was a familiar face. The same wicked man he had killed. Shaft, the psychotic bastard. His ghost flailing, fighting against the scarlet threads, dread filling his expression.

The soul tried to pull Zhou Qi along, only to find himself incapable of touching the living. The loan shark only felt a frizzle of icy air enveloping his limbs. Those puny B-grade horror movies he watched before the zealots' appearance paled compared to how scary the sight was.

The beaked mask opened, hundreds of sharpened teeth welcoming the delicacy.

Chomp.

The soul of Shaft squirmed after a delicacy unto the mouth. Shaft's soul made a crying face before turning crazy. With every chew, Shaft's soul twisted as if it was facing a grinding machine.

There was no blood nor flesh, but the horror Shaft's soul was suffering was apparent. The silence was more numbing than the scene itself.

"You think you can escape me, mortal? Caka, tastes like raw madness." The crimson robed void calamity chortled. "I like it!"

Though the void calamity glanced at the loan shark before ignoring him altogether.

"Damn woman, the contract's done!"

Zhou Qi shuddered. He could sense the hunger and irritation in the monster's eyes.

A deliciously prepared chicken stew. That was how he felt after seeing those hungry eyes. His sweat falling like an abundant stream. He was sure enough that he would be dehydrated after this.

The void calamity moved its gaze towards the shattered void.

Soon, the void opened again. This time, there were no hands appearing out of nowhere. The void calamity willingly entered, laughing like a maniac." I'll see you again, boy. Cakaka."

Damn no! Zhou Qi scowled in his heart.

Of course, he dared not reply or even act like he heard it. Zhou Qi played dead for at least another ten minutes. He wanted to make sure nothing would pounce out of the void once again.

*Ding*

System notes: Congratulations, you have lived to see another freakin' day!

"Congratulations, my ass," Zhou Qi said. Despite being physically and mentally drained, he ended up being the straight man for this unreliable system. It never failed to tick off Zhou Qi's sore points.

Can you show some consideration to your almost dead buddy? He thought.

But after remembering the prize of this dreadful emergency mission, he grimaced. Then a hideous slit shadowed his lips. How Zhou Qi wished to slap the system dead. And now a chance had appeared. I must never waste it! He thought. He played ignorant, deciding to pull the price at the perfect time.

Zhou Qi hoisted himself, supporting his buckling knees with his hands. He was like a little ant in front of that monstrosity. A mere flick, and his death was as good as sealed.

The loan shark felt his jaws locking every time he tried to remember the scary encounter. His whole body freezing with even just the memory.

Zhou Qi looked around, sighing after confirming that everything was already safe. "Time to look for the unlucky kid."

His entire day had been full of crappy things. It felt like someone was playing with him in the shadows.

Brisk walking, the loan shark searched every room he passed by. The place was quite large, like a maze, increasing the difficulty of finding the right room.

Same doors, same corridors, same designs - sprawling black and white covering the entire area plus the eerie silence. Simply put, it was enough to make normal humans mad.

Zhou Qi included.

Zhou Qi was also running out of gas as his breathing became ragged. But what was truly running out was… his patience.

Gritting his teeth, Zhou Qi snapped.

He pulled out a metal bat from his back. Well-spiked with sharp-pointed pins, rather than a bat, it was more of a mace. Like a gangster boss that he was, Zhou Qi went for the easy and well-tested way. The classic way of smashing things. The barbaric way.

Bang! Bang! Dang!

The maze-like walls fell into Zhou Qi's feet one by one like broken lego.

Zhou Qi's weird switch flipped open. A step to the left, smash! To the right, smash! A wide grin bloomed on his face. It took only a few minutes to render the black and white maze into chunks of debris.

If Shaft saw how Zhou Qi ripped his so-called paradise, he would surely curse Zhou Qi for being the devil's incarnate. Too bad he's dead.

After tearing down Shaft's paradise with a radiant smile, Zhou Qi finally ended his crazy streak. It was a good way to sweat and vent.

"Fantastic! Breaking things really helps," Zhou Qi said, as he flicked away the streak of sweat trickling from his chin.

The loan shark continued his search. But this time, there are fewer doors still intact. Making everything much easier.

“Hick. Hick. Hick."

Soon enough, Zhou Qi picked up the first human sound from the crazy place. The loan shark turned, dashing towards the source.

Bang!

With a single kick, the iron door flew in the air, a new large shoe-shaped dent debuting as its brand new design.

"Brat?"

He saw a hateful face crying once again and as useless as ever. It was the lad who sold himself to the Law Bar. The unlucky debt-ridden brat, Zhai Wu.

The young kid rolled back deeper, shaking upon hearing Zhou Qi's intimidating voice. His resentment couldn't be hidden from his shivering words. "W-Who are you? Are you finally going to kill me?!"

He looked around and saw the other victims, unconscious.

Zhou Qi turned his head back to the kid. The loan shark saw a lot of wounds and lashes lying on the kid's arm and even face. He frowned, knowing what kind of hell the kid experience.

Zhou Qi scratched his head before pointing a finger towards himself, softening his aggressive tone by a bit. "Can't remember me, brat?"

The loan shark could feel the young kid scrutinizing him. "Boss Zhou Qi is that you?! Eh, you died too? Am I in hell? I didn't even realize I died. Huhu, my poor sister!"

Zhou Qi choked. He almost kicked the kid. Zhou Qi sighed. He better get straight to the point for this dimwitted guy. "You are still alive."

"I'm alive? Alive?!" The young kid froze before bawling and laughing again. "S-So I survived." Wiping his tears, he glanced at the loan shark. "But what are you here, boss Zhou Qi?"

"To save you, brat! Don't forget that you are already my property." Zhou Qi eyed the kid. "I already gave you the money, right?!"

The young kid shuddered upon remembering his promise. His eyes lost focus. "Ah, yes, yes, the money. Wait, my sister?!"

Zhai Baiwu stood and sprinted towards the loan shark with bloodshot eyes as if he owned him money.

But before reaching Zhou Qi, the kid… held Zhou Qi's clothes with all of his strength. "Save my sister! Save my sister! Please, boss, I'll do my best at work. But please, you need to help my sister!"

The passion of the young kid startled Zhou Qi. The kid was a madman, dropping to the floor, crying while pulling on Zhou Qi's clothes. His eyes showed that he wouldn't let go unless he helped.

"Kill me or save my sister!" The lad cried.

"Hey brat, stop. Fuck! Don't touch my pants. Don't! Hey, it's going to rip," Zhou Qi groaned. He wanted to kick the kid away, but feared he might just kill him on the spot.

Thus, the loan shark's clothes slowly suffered their demise. The power of the kid's grip was quite incredible as if he had a rare talent for ripping other people's clothes. After ripping pieces out of Zhou Qi's clothes, he would grab another.

"For hell's sake! Let go brat! Your sister is safe!" Zhou Qi pulled away. Anxious that the kid would rip all his remaining clothes to shreds.

"Really?" Zhai Baiwu said, his eyes shining after hearing that his sister was safe. Then he sighed in relief and cried again.

Zhou Qi looked at himself before turning his face back to the lad. He began doubting his past decisions. He took a deep breath, massaging the creases on his forehead.

What a troublesome brat.