Chapter 114: Block His Mouth

    Shen Nianzu’s heart leapt to his throat, and he did the first thing that came to mind – feign ignorance. "Hear what?" His voice was croaky as if they had been squeezed out of the hollow of his throat.

    However, as if the whole universe was conspiring against him at the moment, Lang Zhenya ecstatic cry pierced through the air. "AH—hmph!" It appeared like her mouth had been promptly shut, as Jiang Shun’s hoarse voice sounded the next second, "Sshh, baby. Don’t be so loud. You don’t want an innocent little boy to hear you, do you?"

    Shen Nianzu: "..." Innocent little boy, your ass!

    Now he could not even ignore it any longer lest Jin Jiuchi would suspect that something was wrong with his hearing!

    He bit down hard on his bottom lip and shut his eyes tight, bracing himself for the barrage of Jin Jiuchi’s endless questions because he had just recalled that Jin Jiuchi did not seem to know what ’couple’ meant, but then he heard the man say,

    "The vibration in the air," he lightly clicked his tongue. "It’s getting louder tonight. How annoying."

    What?

    Shocked, Shen Nianzu whipped his head around to see Jin Jiuchi’s displeased face with his gaze fixed on the direction of the temple. He did not seem to notice Jiang Shun and Lang Zhenya’s ongoing carnal activity in the next tent.

    However, it was exactly because of that reason that Shen Nianzu became all the more mortified. Oh God, he... how could he let his mind wander so far?! And to think that he had even prepared himself in case Jin Jiuchi would pester him about questions regarding sex. When in fact, the man was not even bothered by it at all!

    ’It’s you who are too dirty-minded, Nian!’ Shen Nianzu chided himself severely. So what if those two were getting it on? In the Cycle, there were no laws that forbade them from doing so! Whether they were doing it in the wilderness or anywhere else, they had freedom to do as they pleased!

    Taking in a deep breath, Shen Nianzu forced himself to calm down and responded to Jin Jiuchi’s remark, "The vibration in the air? Are you talking about the mental pollution from the coffin? Is it..." he hesitated for a beat before finishing his sentence. "Is it still calling out to you?"

    Jin Jiuchi hummed in agreement, then he shot a pitiful look toward Shen Nianzu. "You will get rid of it for me, won’t you, Nian’er?"

    Why was he so obsessed with destroying whatever lay inside the coffin? The question flashed through Shen Nianzu’s mind, but in the end what he said was, "We will see later. Let us go first. Xinxin must have been waiting for us."

    He unzipped the tent and stepped out, taking a deep inhale of the chilly wind to abate the heat in his mind. Jin Jiuchi trailed behind him, his face scrunching up in repulsion. "Ugh, the smell is killing me..."

    Shen Nianzu followed his line of sight and saw that he was glaring at Jiang Shun and Lang Zhenya’s tent that was shaking ever so slightly. He cleared his throat and commented in the most neutral tone he could muster, "So you noticed them, huh? You didn’t say anything about it, so I thought..."

    Jin Jiuchi let out a snort, "They’re fucking each other so loudly that I can hear them from miles away. And the musky smell they are emitting..." he dropped his gaze to his own nether region and murmured under his breath, "What if I’m affected by them?"

    "Cough cough cough—!" This time, Shen Nianzu really choked on his breath. A–Affected?! What did he mean by that? Was he saying that he would get aroused as well?!

    "Nian’er?" Jin Jiuchi kindly reached out to pat his back. "Why are you coughing so much tonight? Is it because of the cold? Shall I hold you again like I did last night?" With his eyes sparkling in enthusiasm, he bent down to scoop the jade doll into his arms, only to reach nothing but empty air.

    "N–No, there’s no need!" Shen Nianzu hissed like an irritated and moody cat. In a blink of an eye, he had moved out of the range of Jin Jiuchi’s misbehaving claws. "Besides, your body is as cold as ice and you will only make me feel colder instead!"

    With that, he turned away abruptly and trudged through the desert, not giving Jin Jiuchi a chance to respond.

    "Hmph, so you will only cuddle with me once I’m warm again?" Jin Jiuchi grumbled under his breath in a petulant tone, and then he quickly caught up with the jade doll with his long legs, "Nian’er, wait for me!"

    This was the first time Shen Nianzu had ever entered the temple at night, and he was taken aback to find that the murals on the walls were giving off a faint blue light as if they had been dusted with fluorescent substance. Alas, thanks to the dried and brownish bloodstain, the initially awe-inspiring faces of the Gods became twisted and malevolent instead. It was as if they could cross the wall at any moment to drag them inside.

    "Xiao Shen!" Xinxin shot up to his feet upon seeing him, and his eyes brightened even more when he saw Jin Jiuchi trailing behind. "Da Shen, you’re here as well! Are you feeling okay now?"

    "I’m fine, thanks to Nian’er!" Jin Jiuchi flashed him a grin, revealing his pearly white teeth and sharp canines. "It’s so good to see you again in this Cycle!"

    As Xinxin stared at the tall man before him, he could not shake off the feeling that something was off. Wait a minute, his eye color... had it always been this dark? However, Xinxin was immediately distracted when he heard Shen Nianzu ask in a serious tone,

    "You didn’t scream when you saw these murals, did you?" Even he got goosebumps as soon as he entered the temple hall. It was hard to believe that someone as timid as Xinxin could stay silent.

    "Almost," Xinxin tugged on his bangs sheepishly. "But luckily, I closed my mouth in time. But that player..." his gaze drifted to the corner of the hall where Fatty was huddling in fear, as far away as possible from the coffin.

    Shen Nianzu shook his head and told him, "Worry about yourself first."

    It was not like he did not want to help a fellow player, especially a newbie. But one glance at Fatty was enough for Shen Nianzu to know that his chances of survival were very low. People like Luo Qing, Fatty and Old Guan from the previous Cycle, who would only lament about their fate without doing anything to change it, would never be able to last long in the cruel Nightmare Cycle. And thus Shen Nianzu decided that it was not worth the effort to help such a person.

    "Oh..." Xinxin nodded in understanding, as he was no Samaritan either. It was already difficult for him to keep his own life, so how could he still care about another? "I don’t know what will happen tonight, but for the Nightmare to give me such a task, it must mean that something will make me scream, right...?" his voice shook in fear, but he gritted his teeth and continued, "That’s why I have been searching for something that can block my mouth. I can at least do that, can’t I?"

    "Fair enough," Shen Nianzu nodded. "As long as the Nightmare doesn’t specifically forbid you so, then you’re free to improvise as you want."

    Xinxin’s eyes lit up with hope. "Then I will do that! But the problem is... I don’t have anything to use as a cover..."

    He only had clothes on his body, and the temperature would continue to drop at night so it was not possible for him to sacrifice them. The items in ’Basic Necessity’ prop like sleeping bag or blanket would not do the job either, as they were too thick and would likely hinder his breathing. He could not afford to be distracted if he had to fight later on.

    Shen Nianzu shifted through his props and shook his head. "I don’t have anything on me either."

    "Aha!" Jin Jiuchi suddenly exclaimed, drawing their attention. They watched as he retrieved something from his pocket and handed it to Xinxin with a grin. "How about this? It should be perfect for covering your mouth, right?"

    In Jin Jiuchi’s hand was none other than the yellowed bandages he had forcibly stolen from the bus officer. The bandages emitted a pungent odor of decay and medicinal balm that was strong enough to kill. Who knew how many bacteria lurked within them? And Xinxin had to wrap his mouth with these filthy bandages??

    He wanted to cry but had no tears.