“Is there anything to eat? I’m hungry,” Huang Fengjing muttered, rubbing his stomach.
He turned around only to find that Yue Shi was gone.
“Where did he go?”
Huang Fengjing looked around, his expression a bit panicked.
The Ghost was also startled. Yue Shi had just been standing there; how could he vanish in the blink of an eye?
A split second later, the vision of both Huang Fengjing and the Ghost blurred as the scene abruptly shifted.
The two of them instantly tensed up, but they relaxed upon seeing Yue Shi’s figure.
They were in a chaotic, hazy space where furniture, daily necessities, tables, chairs, and snacks were neatly arranged, creating the atmosphere of a home.
Yue Shi was sitting calmly on a sofa, flipping through a yellowed diary.
“Don’t be nervous. Take a seat,” Yue Shi invited.
Huang Fengjing sat cautiously on the other side of the sofa, his face filled with confusion.
The Ghost, meanwhile, drifted around everywhere like a cat inspecting a new territory.
“Is this the extra-dimensional space you use for your daily life? You certainly know how to enjoy yourself. It’s fully equipped, cozy, and quite ordinary.”
“I thought you’d prefer a dark, edgy, and cruel style~”
“Scumbags only persecute others. ‘Dark and edgy’ is a knife meant for stabbing people; why would I use it on myself?” Yue Shi replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
He had always treated himself well, being kind to his own body and emotions.
“Fine, I’m defeated by your twisted logic every time.”
The Ghost threw up his hands and sat down, then asked, “What happened? Why did you suddenly drag us into the extra-dimensional space?”
Yue Shi didn’t keep them in suspense and said directly, “We’ve fallen into a loop.”
“A loop?”
Huang Fengjing and the Ghost were both stunned.
“A time loop,” Yue Shi emphasized.
Earlier, when he entered the extra-dimensional space, he had left a raven outside.
Through the raven’s senses, he had been exploring this supernatural domain alongside the Ghost and Huang Fengjing.
And then, he had personally witnessed the loop restart.
Perhaps because he had directly ‘observed’ the temporal anomaly, when the restart occurred, images from countless previous loops flooded into his mind.
The clean welfare home, the corpse at the gate, the eerie nursery rhyme, the people trapped in the painting, the underground operating room, and that diary!
Those scenes repeated over and over, though they weren't identical; every iteration had slight variations in the details.
In one instance, they encountered a group of bandits who injured Huang Fengjing, only to be instantly killed by Yue Shi.
In another, the rubber ball in the hallway suddenly mutated into a human head, but it still met the fate of being crushed under Yue Shi’s foot.
Once, the nursery rhyme in the hallway became deafeningly loud.
Essentially, every loop ended with Huang Fengjing mutating after reading the diary and the shadowless lamp in the operating room suddenly lighting up.
The starting point was always Huang Fengjing being hungry and wanting to eat, forming a continuous, self-contained cycle.
Yue Shi gave a general description of what he knew and concluded, “In every loop, our memories are reset.”
“Until the last loop, when I suddenly realized all the jam-filled bread I’d stored in my space was gone. That’s when I sensed something was wrong.”
“And now, I’ve finally realized the existence of the time loop.”
Yue Shi had no talent for telling horror stories, but the more Huang Fengjing and the Ghost listened, the more terrified they felt.
“Could it be that you’re under some kind of illusion? Maybe there is no time loop, just a memory disorder?” Huang Fengjing asked uncertainly.
He had no memory or feeling of any loop, and he was reluctant to accept the hopeless predicament of a time loop.
“It shouldn’t be an illusion.”
Yue Shi waved the diary in his hand.
“When the last loop ended, I took the opportunity to bring the diary from the welfare home’s basement with me.”
“And now we are in a new loop, but we haven’t even been to that basement yet.”
The Ghost spoke up then. “If someone could bypass Yue Shi’s defenses to cast an illusion, their strength would absolutely crush ours. We might as well lie down and wait for death.”
Huang Fengjing gave a bitter smile. “I think a ‘time loop’ is even worse than ‘illusionary crushing.’”
“If we can’t escape the loop, won’t we be trapped here forever?”
The Ghost countered, “At least Yue Shi has noticed the time loop. Being able to perceive it means this loop isn’t without flaws.”
“I believe in Yue Shi’s strength. He will definitely find a way to break the cycle.”
Huang Fengjing frowned, hesitating to speak. Ultimately, he said nothing, but it was clear he remained pessimistic.
A glint of greed flickered in Yue Shi’s eyes.
A time-based supernatural power was truly something to covet.
The Ghost had already begun actively brainstorming solutions.
“I’ve never experienced a time loop situation before. I suspect that if we want to end it, we might need to use external force to break the balance.”
“Or perhaps find the key node of the time loop and destroy it.”
Huang Fengjing held back as long as he could, but finally, he couldn’t help but snark, “If the person who set up this time loop is an individual or an intelligent entity, then no matter how much we think, it’s useless.”
“This isn’t some brainless regression web novel where the protagonist is reborn and changes their actions while the villain’s behavior stays exactly the same as in the previous life, like an NPC.”
“The villain can change their tactics and use other methods to screw over the protagonist.”
“If the time loop is being controlled by someone behind the scenes, even if you figure out the answer to the problem, they can just change the question entirely.”
The Ghost spread his hands. “You have a point. Let’s just lie down and wait for death then.”
Huang Fengjing was choked up. He realized his attitude was too pessimistic and that he shouldn't be discouraging everyone now.
They were just trapped, not in a situation with zero chance of survival.
He quickly put on a smile. “Wait, wait, wait, my lords! I lost control of my emotions just now; it was all nonsense.”
“Let’s keep discussing how to break the time loop.”
“Where were we? Using external force to break it, or finding the key node in the cycle?”
“External force...” Huang Fengjing instinctively looked at Yue Shi. “Can it be done?”
“I don’t know,” Yue Shi said bluntly.
“Time is invisible and intangible. If I wanted to break it, I wouldn’t even know where to apply force.”
Huang Fengjing rubbed his hungry stomach, his face full of worry. “Then is the key node in the loop the diary, or that shadowless lamp?”
“If we just don’t touch them, or simply don’t go to that basement, will the loop stop?”
Slap!
The Ghost slapped the armrest of the sofa and said crossly, “Are you stupid?”
“In the last loop, Yue Shi took the diary from the basement.”
“In this loop, the diary is still in Yue Shi’s hands.”
“Why didn’t the diary reset and return to its original place?”
“Why was all the jam-filled bread eaten, and the quantity didn't reset?”
Huang Fengjing was stunned by the questions. He looked at the diary in Yue Shi’s hand and suddenly realized.
“Does that mean things in the extra-dimensional space aren't affected by the external time loop?”
...
Bureau Affiliated Hospital.
The Vice Minister of the Action Department walked into the sickroom, only to find the bed empty.
“Where is The Resonant Daoist?”
“Captain Ugly was here just now and took him away. He said he found a way to help him get rid of the curse,” a nurse said.
“He’d be that kind?” The Vice Minister’s brow furrowed.
Those two usually didn't get along. Could he be taking the opportunity to kick a man while he’s down?
No, no, The Resonant Daoist was already miserable enough; one didn't even need to kick him to mock him at will.
Could he really be helping to remove the curse?
Did The Resonant Daoist have some leverage over Captain Ugly?
Meanwhile, the two men being gossiped about by the Vice Minister had already left the hospital.
The Resonant Daoist wore a wide-brimmed hat that barely covered his rotting, oozing scalp.
The exposed lower half of his face was still handsome, but it couldn't hide his pale, sickly state.
He wore a long trench coat loosely draped over him, walking with his legs splayed in a strained, awkward shuffle.
He looked like a waddling duck, both pathetic and ridiculous.
Beside him, the other Bureau Captain, Captain Ugly, saw The Resonant Daoist’s plight and mocked him with unshielded ridicule.
His laughter was shrill and unpleasant.
Veins throbbed at The Resonant Daoist’s temples as he took a deep breath, barely suppressing the fury in his heart.
He pretended not to hear; the most important thing now was to lift the curse.
With every step, the dull pain from his lower body reminded him of the humiliation Yue Shi had brought upon him.
Captain Ugly claimed to have a way to help him escape the curse, and he had no choice but to take the gamble.
The two left the core area under the Bureau’s jurisdiction. Captain Ugly led him through several twists and turns before finally arriving at an abandoned cinema.
Pushing open the creaking doors of the screening hall, they found an empty, dilapidated auditorium.
Someone was already waiting there.
It was a girl with twin tails, sitting in the front row and swinging her legs.
She wore a clean school uniform and had a pure, beautiful face, looking like an innocent little flower.
The Resonant Daoist endured the intense pain and managed to find a relatively clean chair, sitting down with stiff, strange movements.
“This is your so-called method for breaking the curse?”
He looked at Captain Ugly.
For a moment, he felt like Captain Ugly was humiliating him, deliberately finding a pretty girl to watch his pathetic state for amusement.
Before Captain Ugly could speak, the girl spoke first, her voice sweet. “Hello, Captain Resonant Daoist.”
“Let me introduce myself. You can call me Boss Pi.”
The Resonant Daoist was taken aback. Though he wasn't familiar with the name Boss Pi, he had heard of it.
She was a special merchant who roamed the dark underbelly of society, fond of collecting beautiful skins and skilled at using them for trade.
She could give those lacking in appearance the peerless looks they dreamed of.
Captain Ugly forced a hideous smile and said, “Boss Pi can indeed solve your urgent problem.”
The Resonant Daoist looked at the girl skeptically.
The person before him had long since died; beneath that pure exterior was a supernatural wearing human skin.
He really couldn't understand how a merchant who dealt in human skins could have a solution for a curse that even the Bureau was powerless against.
Boss Pi seemed to see through his doubts and said with a smile, “I can peel off your skin.”
The Resonant Daoist’s expression changed slightly.
“And along with it, the injuries you’ve suffered will be stripped away as well.”
Hearing this, The Resonant Daoist’s eyes widened. A flash of insight hit him, and he instantly understood. “So, it’s not just the skin you peel away!”
Boss Pi tilted her chin, revealing the elegant jawline of a young girl, her tone arrogant. “If I only knew how to skin things, what difference would there be between me and a butcher at the wet market?”
She didn't just peel off the skin; she stripped away all traits attached to the exterior.
Looks, voice, temperament, build, body odor, clothing—even all injuries and abnormal states visible from the outside would be stripped away along with that skin.
After a moment of silence, The Resonant Daoist asked, “What will happen to me after the skin is peeled?”
“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt, and you won’t be injured,” Boss Pi replied.
“I can give you a new skin to wear temporarily.”
“Once you find a way to solve the source of the curse, you can just swap back to your own skin.”
“And the price?” The Resonant Daoist looked directly at Boss Pi, then turned his gaze to Captain Ugly.
He didn't believe there was such a thing as a free lunch. Captain Ugly and Boss Pi must be plotting something!
Boss Pi laughed. “I like dealing with smart people.”
“Since you’re being so direct, I won’t beat around the bush.”
“The main reason is that I know who caused your injuries, and I have a grudge against that person. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“Secondly, being able to establish a relationship with a Bureau Captain is a guaranteed win. This favor is very valuable.”
The Resonant Daoist didn't believe Boss Pi’s words, but he nodded in agreement on the surface.
Then he shifted his gaze to Captain Ugly. “And you? You wouldn't help me for no reason. What do you want me to do?”
Captain Ugly glanced at Boss Pi and chuckled. “We can talk about our business later. Let’s solve your trouble first. Seeing the way you walk makes me feel uncomfortable for you.”
Boss Pi said no more and took out a photo album, pushing it toward The Resonant Daoist.
“These skins are all top-quality, one-in-a-million choices. Using them on a Bureau Captain, even temporarily, isn't a waste.”
The Resonant Daoist took the album and looked through it.
Every photo in the album was of a high-quality male of various types.
There were sunny, energetic men with smooth muscle lines, dark-skinned bruisers full of power, clear-eyed high schoolers, and even femboys...
“Are the origins of these skins clean?” The Resonant Daoist suddenly looked up and asked.
He was worried that if he wore someone else’s skin, he would be hounded by the original owner’s friends and family, causing unnecessary trouble.
Boss Pi’s tone was relaxed. “Don’t worry. The stock I’ve picked for you are all ordinary people from the Chaos Zone or remote cities. Their backgrounds are simple; there won’t be any follow-up issues.”
“Good.” The Resonant Daoist lowered his head and continued his careful selection.
Internally, however, he was thinking about how dark the world truly was.
Ordinary people were targeted for disaster and had their skins peeled and sold simply because they were good-looking.
Beauty without power was indeed a dead end.
“Actually, you could consider giving up your original skin and swapping to one that looks similar to your old face,” Captain Ugly joked from the side.
“Grow your hair out and dye it white; it should be enough to pass for the real thing. If anyone asks, just say you had some work done, a forty percent touch-up.”
“Besides, your current skin is quite tattered anyway. Why bother with all the mending?”
The Resonant Daoist shot back, “With a face like yours, why don't you swap to a high-quality face? Is it because you don’t want to?”
Captain Ugly was choked for a moment, a murderous glint flashing in his eyes, but he quickly went back to laughing.
“I’m not some pretty boy. I don’t care about those superficial things; I only care about pursuing strength.”
Boss Pi glanced at Captain Ugly, her eyes meaningful as she smiled without a word.
The Resonant Daoist ignored him, flipping through the album until his gaze lingered on a variety of skins.
Finally, his finger stopped on a certain page.
It was a boy in a tank top, with a bright smile and fair skin. His muscles were slightly thin, but their lines and shape were very beautiful.
At a glance, he looked like a fragrant, soft, slender muscular boy.
“Him.”
The Resonant Daoist pointed at the photo and made his decision.
At least this skin looked clean. Using it for a few days wouldn't make him feel too disgusted.
Rate on N.U.
