Lord of Rot

As the men entered the house, Dacheng and his crew got handsy as they moved in on Malin.

’Even in a brand-new world, you can’t get away from filthy, disgusting rats like these.’

Malin had finally found something in Leech’s dreamscape that matched her own understanding of the world, but it brought her no joy.

No one likes vile, disgusting human rats.

She easily subdued them. To prevent their escape, she broke their legs.

She turned a deaf ear to their agonized screams.

”I want a firearm!” she demanded. She refused to believe that in Leech’s subconscious, these people could actually communicate in a completely fabricated language.

’They must speak Lu Leiyi.’

But in reality, they couldn’t understand her at all and just kept kowtowing and begging for mercy.

By sunset, Malin still hadn’t managed to get any useful information. The men she had tortured repeatedly were barely recognizable as human anymore.

Shit and piss covered the ground.

She looked at a small metal box she’d found on one of them. ”What is this?”

”Cellphone,” the young man replied, guessing her meaning.

After a while of fruitless conversation where neither side understood the other, Malin handed the metal box to the blond-haired youth. ”How do you use this?”

She gestured for him to demonstrate.

’There’s nothing like this on the Lu Leiyi Continent. This must be a secret from Baron Porcupine’s memories!’

The blond youth was in disbelief. ’The kidnapper is actually letting me use my phone?’

He tentatively dialed 911 to call the police. Malin didn’t react.

”Hello?”

”Hello!” the blond youth said quickly. ”Help! We’ve been kidnapped.”

Malin didn’t understand a word, and the concept of calling for police never even crossed her mind. She simply watched as the blond youth reported the crime, carefully gave the address, and awaited rescue.

’A box that makes sounds... like an Alchemy Creation. There has to be a reason for it. Just how many more secrets is Baron Porcupine hiding!’

Before long, there was a knock at the door.

”Open the door!”

Malin glanced at the men, but instead of opening the door, she flattened herself against the wall to hide.

She guessed it was probably the constables or the town guard. ’But how did they find this place?’ Malin believed her actions had been swift and decisive. Besides, the buildings here were more than ten times taller than those in the royal capital; it would be a huge hassle for constables to search their way up here. They couldn’t have arrived so fast.

’Could it have been that sound-making box?!’

RUMBLE...!

A deafening noise suddenly erupted from outside. Malin peered curiously through the floor-to-ceiling window to see a massive metal box flying and hovering just outside!

At the same moment, the door was smashed open with a BOOM, and a group of people charged inside.

”The hostages are in extreme danger! Commence rescue! The target has a three-star wanted level!”

Malin struck fast. Although she wasn’t a combat specialist, as a Transcendent, wiping the floor with ordinary people was child’s play. What’s more, these constables weren’t even wearing armor. Malin could cave in their skulls with a single punch!

She struck out twice, and two men fell to the ground, breathless.

”Fire!”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Bullets flew through the air.

Malin dodged frantically, but was inevitably struck by a few bullets.

The pain ignited her inner ferocity. She charged the constables. At such close range, they didn’t dare fire and were easily slaughtered by her.

”A firearm!” Malin bent down and picked up a handgun. ’It’s more compact than the rumors described, and more powerful.’

’If I can get my hands on detailed blueprints, I’ll be able to complete my mission.’

She turned to face the metal box still hovering outside, raised the gun, and pulled the trigger.

CLICK, CLICK, CLICK...

”Hmm?”

Someone else yelled, ”Four-star wanted level! It’s four stars!”

...

Leech lay in his hospital bed, reading a book and eating fruit, all while being attended to by a beautiful nurse.

Suddenly, a wave of agonized screams came from outside.

”What’s going on?” Leech asked.

The nurse, Nise Ren, stepped out. She returned a moment later and said, ”It sounds like someone outside triggered a five-star wanted level. A lot of innocent people got caught in the crossfire. Our obstetrics and gynecology department is helping take in patients. Sigh... I hope Captain China, Steel Pipe Man, and the Lady of Lightning are deployed and can catch the criminal.”

’Hiss... It couldn’t be the person who invaded my dream, could it?’

Leech had indeed thrown together a jumbled dreamscape, but it was just a patchwork of subconscious mechanisms he hadn’t thought through very carefully.

He had only wanted to use a few simple mechanisms to slow the intruder down so he could take the opportunity to do some studying.

His plan was that once the intruder reached him, he would just kill himself to wake up... or drag everyone into another dream.

But events weren’t unfolding quite as he’d imagined. It seemed the intruder was now in the awkward predicament of being a wanted fugitive.

”Hope he’s alright,” Leech said, turning a page and then opening his mouth.

The nurse at his side dutifully picked up a grape and placed it in his mouth.

”Could you turn on the TV?” Leech asked. He was quite curious, after all.

”Of course.”

The dream world’s most dedicated cameraman was hot on a woman’s heels, constantly filming her from behind.

Staring at the figure on screen, Leech froze for a second. ”It’s her! The ’mother-daughter package deal’ lady!”

It was the noble lady who had invited him for that ’special meal.’ He never would have guessed she was the one who had entered his dream—and trapped him in it as well.

’Did she leave some kind of mark on me when she touched me before?’

...

’Where did it all go wrong!’

The ’Dreamer’ Malin ran without stopping, pursued by an endless stream of squads who were physically weak but armed with overwhelming firepower.

Just moments ago, she had killed three bizarre Transcendent beings.

It wasn’t unusual for Transcendent beings to appear in Baron Porcupine’s dreamscape—after all, even a Giant Dragon had shown up once. Malin could even abandon her current identity and possess someone else’s body.

But she didn’t dare. In a shallow dream, she could disengage at any time, but in a deep dream like this, possession could get her stuck, unable to escape.

After evading her pursuers yet again, Malin didn’t dare to rest. She quickly changed her clothes as a disguise.

The moment she left the slightest trace, the constables would be on her tail. Not even a Transcendent would dare to face their weapons—especially the flying metal box. Its strafing runs could tear through solid steel.

’How long has it been? A month? Two? Maybe longer?’

Malin spent her days in hiding and her nights searching.

She had learned a few phrases in the dream world’s language, enough for some broken communication.

”Hello, please show me your ID. We’ve had a lot of dangerous fugitives on the loose lately,” a constable said, stopping Malin.

Malin knew he was talking about some kind of strange credential, but she didn’t have one and had no way of getting one.

’The only option is to kill him and run.’

Just as she raised her fist to strike, the constable moved faster, grabbing her wrist. ”Are you trying to disrespect me, Wen Tailai of the Thunderbolt Hand?”

He let go of her hand as he spoke and took a step back.

He started shouting, ”HYA! HYA! HYA!”, as an invisible force tore his shirt to shreds, revealing a flabby, pot-bellied torso.

Malin swiftly moved and subdued him. By now, she was used to encountering all sorts of strange people.

For instance, there was the person who suddenly appeared hanging upside-down, yelled ”Auntie Spider!”, fought her for a bit, and then vanished.

Or the orange-haired teenager who showed up carrying a giant cleaver.

They all seemed to appear for the sole purpose of saying a specific line, after which they would promptly disappear.

”Leech!” she said, forcing the words out. ”Find Leech!”

”Let me go! Let go, and I’ll take you to him!”

It had only recently dawned on Malin that the characters in this dream existed to serve its master. As long as she wanted to find Leech, these people should be able to help her.

There was just one consequence she would have to bear.

”Target has a six-star wanted level! Extremely dangerous!”

’Of course. Here we go again!’