Chapter 34: The Bone Mask
Shock rippled through Chen Ning’s mind.
Who… who’s speaking to me?
“It’s me—the Crimson Tyrant.”
When the thought first arose, Chen Ning suspected his rage was causing hallucinations. But the instant he wondered who was speaking, an immediate reply snapped him back to reality.
He finally had to accept it—this was no hallucination. Someone, or something, was truly communicating with him through a mental link.
“What are you looking for? You’ve already swallowed me. I’m inside your spiritual realm now, you idiot.”
The voice of the Crimson Tyrant spoke again. It sounded like an old man’s voice, coarse and rude, and there was something faintly familiar about its tone. Chen Ning instantly realized: this voice was the same as that of the zombie head from earlier! So, it was the legendary Crimson Tyrant? And it was inside his mental realm?
Chen Ning shut his eyes.
To Xiao Zihao, Niu Er, and Da Yan, it looked as if he’d finally broken—closing his eyes in despair, unable to watch as they prepared to defile Su Luo.
Xiao Zihao glanced at the unconscious Su Luo, then back at Chen Ning. He was in no hurry. True vengeance required breaking the enemy’s spirit first; only by inflicting maximum psychological torment could he fully savor the moment.
While Su Luo was beautiful, Xiao Zihao had little personal interest in her. His goal in violating her was to make Chen Ning watch helplessly, to shatter his psyche completely.
So, when Xiao Zihao saw Chen Ning close his eyes, assuming he was in despair.
He sneered,
“Heh, Chen Ning, weren’t you always so arrogant and cocky? Why do you look so pathetic now? Can’t you even protect your friend?”
As Chen Ning closed his eyes, he strove to stabilize his emotions and enter his mental world.
There, above the lake between his Black and White Martial Veins, hovered a ferocious zombie head—none other than the strange head he had devoured and merged with. It had actually appeared within his spiritual realm!
Chen Ning’s heart pounded violently.
He mentally asked, “You old freak… are you really the legendary scourge of the zombie world, the Crimson Tyrant, public enemy of humanity?”
“Who are you calling an old freak! You’re the old freak! Your whole family’s old freaks!” the head roared, beard practically bristling in fury.
Chen Ning couldn’t tell if this thing was truly the legendary Tyrant—but one thing was certain: it had quite a temper.
He didn’t have time to argue. Su Luo was seconds away from disaster.
“What did you mean by cooperation?” he demanded. “You said if I agreed to one condition, you’d lend me your power to deal with these bastards. Explain!”
At the mention of cooperation, the old scoundrel’s anger vanished, replaced by a sly smile. The shift was so swift it left Chen Ning stunned once more.
“Heh heh,” the old rogue chuckled twice, then spoke to Chen Ning in a tone reminiscent of the Big Bad Wolf coaxing a child.
“Demigod kid, I am a zombie, and you are practically half a zombie yourself. That makes us half-comrades. We have no old grudges or new hatred between us, so there’s no need for us to harm each other. Now that you’ve devoured me, I doubt I’ll ever get out. You agree to do one thing for me in the real world, and I’ll temporarily lend you my power to resolve this immediate crisis. What do you say? Fair trade, right?”
Chen Ning wanted to ask what kind of thing this Tyrant wanted him to do—but he saw Xiao Zihao crouching beside Su Luo, fingers reaching for the first button on her uniform.
There was no more time.
“Fine!” Chen Ning snapped. “I agree. Now hurry—give me your power! My friend’s about to be—”
The Crimson Tyrant chuckled darkly.
“Oh-ho… so the little demigod does care about this girl. Very touching.” His tone turned low, almost hypnotic. “Now, relax. Imagine you’re lying on a warm, soft bed. You’re tired… so very tired. You want to sleep…”
Chen Ning stiffened immediately. “You’re trying to hypnotize me! Is this really how you give me your power?”
The Crimson Tyrant declared righteously, “Why are you so distrustful? My power isn’t a physical object that can simply be handed over. When I say I’ll temporarily lend you my power, what I really mean is that you need to relax your spirit and let me control your body. Then, by combining my powerful mental abilities with your demigod physique, we can naturally use your body to unleash my strength.”
Chen Ning was both alarmed and skeptical upon hearing this: “You want me to relax my mind and let you control my body? You’re not actually planning to possess me and seize my body, are you?”
The old scoundrel grew flustered and exasperated: “Good grief, kid, why so suspicious? Where’s the basic trust between people? Besides, your will is strong; how could I possibly seize your body? This is just temporary control to utilize my power, deal with your enemies, and save your friend.”
He paused here and added with a cold snort: “Anyway, I’ve explained how the cooperation works. Whether you want to save your friend or not is up to you!”
Chen Ning’s jaw clenched. He didn’t have a choice. The man was despicable, untrustworthy, and clearly scheming—but there was no other way.
“…Alright,” he said finally. “I’ll do it. I’ll relax—take control.”
He pictured himself falling asleep, body heavy, thoughts drifting into darkness.
And the moment his mind loosened its grip—
The severed zombie head above his mental lake began to expand, glowing with a sinister crimson light. It grew until it hung in the air like a blood-red moon, staining the entire spiritual realm in a hellish glow.
On the right, his White Martial Vein remained calm and steady.
But on the left—his Black Martial Vein—the dark energy swelled, thick and violent. The twelve nodes that once only lit two… now blazed one after another, from the third to the eleventh, until eleven of twelve burned with dim, eerie light.
However, although the eleven nodes along the Black Martial Vein were lit, their glow wasn’t dazzling. Instead, it appeared somewhat dim and yellowish. This likely indicated that while he possessed the strength of a Level Eleven Tyrant, he wasn’t at his peak. Rather, he was in a state of severe energy depletion.
However, even in a severely weakened state, the power of a Level ElevenTyrant, though greatly diminished, was more than sufficient to deal with Xiao Zihao, a Level Four War Officer, along with Niu Er and Da Yan, who were merely Level Three War Soldiers.
At that moment, Xiao Zihao was tugging open Su Luo’s first button when a sudden, inexplicable chill crawled up his spine. His instincts screamed of danger.
Niu Er and Da Yan felt it too. Their guns jerked toward the tree where Chen Ning hung bound.
And what they saw made their blood run cold.
Chen Ning, who was originally quite handsome, had undergone a mutation on the left side of his face. A white bone mask had grown there!
The left side of his face was covered by a white bone mask, while the right side remained that of a handsome man. They were sharply demarcated, making him look like a fusion of an angel and a devil, or like a handsome man wearing a half bone mask.
Even more terrifying was the left eye behind the white bone mask, which gleamed with a sinister red light, truly frightening.
Moreover, with just a slight shrug of his shoulders, snapped the ropes binding him with ease.
Xiao Zihao, Niu Er, and Da Yan froze in horror.
“What the hell—?!” Xiao Zihao choked. “He’s mutating! Kill him! Now!”
The two subordinates raised their rifles and opened fire.
Tatatatat!
The bullet struck Chen Ning’s face as if hitting incredibly resilient steel, failing to harm him in the slightest.
Chen Ning grinned coldly, his voice now hoarse.
“Such insolence. How dare a mere grain of rice dare to gleam before this Tyrant?”
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