After an Infinite Flow Player Retires

What did that mean?

This place was an instance.

But for some reason, Ye Jia couldn't remember how he managed to clear it.

He frowned and tried his best to remember but it was all to no avail.

At this moment, a terrible scream sounded from ahead. It contained pain and agony that seemed to penetrate one's heart. It was much like a beasts last cry before it dies from torture.

As if something ahead was pulling him in, Ye Jia stepped towards the direction of that sound.

In the middle of all these tall buildings was an empty field. It was like a giant alter sitting in the depths of a deep sea.

There were dark red lines on the ground and the surroundings were shrouded in darkness, giving it a strange and creepy air.

The fist sized ball of flesh hovered in the air in the centre of that open field. The surface of it seemed to be slowly writhing around.

A young man was curled up in the centre of those red patterns on the ground, his thin back and protruding shoulder blades were particularly vivid under his thin shirt which was wet from his sweat and stuck to his body. His body trembled violently like leaves rustled by the wind. The scene was much like a butterfly on the verge of death, struggling desperately against the spider web binding it.

That ball of flesh slowly descended.

"Ahhhhhhh---------"

He screamed in pain.

Pale fingers clawed at the ground, the broken nails and skin leaving bloody trails.

The young man shuddered and was forced to raise his head by some unknown force. His wet hair was stuck against the sides of his bloodless cheeks and his lips that had been bitten raw were wide open as he gasped for air.

The moment that ball of flesh touched him, it was like a raindrop falling into a pool of water. It disappeared without leaving a trace behind in a blink of an eye.

"Ahhhhh!"

The young man continued to scream miserably.

The next second, from the centre of his chest, a hard and straight handle slowly emerged.

"Riipp-----"

Ye Jia's closed his hands again.

The scythe disappeared.

Ye Jia took a deep breath and slowly raised his head to continue watching the following events.

What happened next was the same as what he remembered.

Among the players, he quickly became the target of public criticism. Those in his teams all died one after another and those he thought could be considered as friends betrayed him one after another. After that final siege, he finally became a lone wolf and, in the end, the only person standing by his side was Ji Xuan.

Slowly, Ye Jia noticed that no matter where he went, he would always attract a large number of ghosts and monsters, like insects flocking towards the only light source around.

He rarely allowed Ji Xuan to be in a team with him when entering an instance. Even after entering an instance, he would stay as far away from the rest of the team and act alone.

Every ghost and monster that tried to kill him were conversely swallowed up by Ye Jia. As he became stronger and stronger, he also became less and less…..human.

This was until….he reached the top of the leaderboard rankings and could no longer be surpassed.

Those scenes from the past flashed before Ye Jia's eyes.

During this time, Ye Jia tried to touch Ji Xuan, but the other party was still like a phantom, unable to be touched, let alone dragged out.

Perhaps he had to wait until this is all played out?

Ye Jia could only give up struggling and go with the flow.

Fortunately, time progressed very quickly in this world and every scene were broken snippets rather than a continuous, uninterrupted flow.

Ye Jia didn't want to relive his years in the game all over again.

That would be too boring.

Soon, the final moment arrived.

Ye Jia pulled himself out from his memories.

He took in a deep breath, followed the two figures before him and entered the cave.

That large and swollen ball of flesh from earlier was already no longer in the cave. It had been replaced by a rippling pool of blood.

In the distance, Ji Xuan and himself seemed to be talking about something. Ye Jia however had no interest in listening in.

He yawned, sat down on one of the stones and rested his chin in his palm with a bored expression.

Suddenly, there was a strange sensation at Ye Jia's ankle.

It was sharp and it poked at his ankle not too lightly but also not too heavily.

Ye Jia looked down.

Only then did he realise that the place he was sitting on wasn't in fact a stone, but a pile of mud coated bones. Near his angle, one of the larger skulls had rolled out from that pile and he could vaguely see its shape through the mud.

Ye Jia bent down and wiped off the dust and dirt from the skull with his sleeve.

It was a lifeless skull of a goat. The horn on the head was what had poked Ye Jia's ankle just now.

Was this…..the blood gu fish's head?

Ye Jia stood up and dug through the pile of bones. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

---- Turns out this was what it was made up of!

At this moment, the ground suddenly shook. Countless rubble smashed down, falling into the pool of blood below with a loud sound.

Ye Jia staggered unsteadily and quickly reached towards a wall to stabilise himself.

Suddenly, a shrill cry sounded from not far away.

The young man slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were as dark as ink, much like the eternal night, and terrifying yin energy flowed around him. Even without much experience, one could tell that this was most definitely a high-level, fearsome ghost that had the ability to turn the world upside down and disrupt the universe.

Ye Jia stood fixed in place as he looked up at that face that was both unfamiliar yet familiar.

For some reason, he instinctively knew----

Yes, that was indeed possible.

When his powers finally go out of control and the powers he consumed finally breaks free from his shackles, he would become like this.

A complete monster.

The young man in the distance slowly descended from the air. The muscles on his body were smooth and defined and his skin was gorgeous and firm, like a living work of art, but he also gave off an overbearing force that made others instinctively feel fear.

He lowered his eyes, his dark pupils sweeping across Ji Xuan who stood not far away. His pale lips opened and closed and his voice seemed like it came from a place very far away, "Many thanks….."

The young boy raised his scarlet eyes and stared fixedly at the young man standing not far away from him. He slowly narrowed his eyes, his voice turning cold, "Who are you?"

"You can't tell?" The young man slowly approached him, "Haven't you always been waiting for me?"

The boy's pale hand reached towards the young man's chest. It pierced through the flesh and he directly held the other party's heart.

The young man panicked, "No, wait, I'm your gege, Ye Jia! You don't recognise me anymore?"

Ji Xuan looked at the other party's face. His eyes were dark, like a dead abyss, and there was also a touch of madness within.

He didn't answer anything.

With a low sound, the blood-stained hand was taken out of the other party's chest. Little by little, that hand crushed the heart in his hand.

The young man's body collapsed and was firmly caught by the other party.

The entire world was shrouded in darkness. A scarlet river of blood flowed under the ground, slowly diving into the depths of the earth.

With the young man's already cold body in his arms, Ji Xuan slowly sat down.

He lowered his head and didn't speak, breathe or move. It was as if he had turned into a lifeless statue, successfully blending in with the dead.

Ye Jia slowly stepped forward.

The soft soil under his felt squelched with each step but he knew very well that the other person couldn't hear it.

The young man stopped before the young boy and looked down at him with a complex and deep look in his eyes.

He couldn't forgive Ji Xuan's betrayal, but…..

The young boy in front of him suddenly blinked and a large teardrop fell from his lifelessly pale face.

Ye Jia couldn't help but speak up, "Hey…."

He subconsciously reached out ----- But unexpectedly, he managed to touch the other person this time.

His warm palm pressed onto the other party's thin shoulder.

Ji Xuan trembled.

He raised his head in astonishment, his scarlet eyes reflecting the face of the young man standing in front of him. His hoarse voice contained disbelief and cautiousness, as if he was afraid of waking up from this dream, and it also trembled in fear and confusion, "Gege?"