Chapter 140: Aberrant 30

Qian rocked on the swing, bored, her little feet dangling and twitching. Then she got up and went out.

Mom and the younger siblings loved to sleep too much. No one wanted to play with her. A kid like her couldn’t stay cooped up in that tiny room.

She stepped outside, brushing her fingers over the wall drawings. Her fingers traced the little hand-in-hand stick figures, then she looked up at the cotton-like clouds painted above her head. The winged dragon she’d drawn was above the clouds—because dragons fly high, so it had to go at the very top.

But she couldn’t quite remember what dragons looked like anymore. She pressed her chin against the wall, staring at it for a while, then decided the dragon’s belly seemed a little too big.

This stretch of wall had been drawn on with chalk, markers, even with ink smeared on by hand.

After walking past the graffiti, Qian reached the stairwell and began jumping down the steps, one at a time.

“So many people went into Tianzi Building last night, and they still didn’t find that Mini Boss. You think we’ll run into her coming in during the day?”

A few people had sneaked into the bottom floor of Tianzi Building and were whispering.

“At least it’s safer during the day. A lot of people died last night. Neither the big Boss nor the Mini Boss showed up—they just got eaten by the other creepy stuff inside.”

“If we run into her, we’re lucky. If we don’t, grabbing a few things inside the building would still be worth the trip. No way we’re leaving empty-handed.”

They weren’t big shots. The real power players hadn’t made a move yet. The ones who rushed in last night and got wiped out were the over-eager cannon fodder. These guys were the second wave.

Eight or nine of them, teamed up temporarily, didn’t really think they’d land a big fish—some small fry would do just fine.

But who would’ve thought that after quietly creeping around the first floor of Tianzi Building, they’d suddenly spot a kid jumping down the stairs.

The first two men to see her looked stunned, barely suppressing their excitement: “There’s a kid… that has to be her!”

“Qian? That’s Qian, right?!”

Qian, mid-jump, heard her name being called and looked up. A group of men and women were staring at her from not far off, their faces lit with barely contained glee.

Because the kid in front of them looked weak—easy to kill.

Seeing them running toward her, Qian quickly turned and scrambled up the stairs.

Just as they were about to reach her, she held her breath and disappeared, reappearing several steps above.

One of the Players, eyes wide, shouted, “It’s definitely her—Qian! Aberrant has that same ability!”

“She looks so weak, we need to grab her now!”

They’d all noticed that this Mini Boss didn’t seem to have any real offensive power.

“Quick, who’s got an item? Throw it at her!”

“Anyone got a cage? Grab her first!”

“Cage? Forget that—just kill her! Move, let me through!”

“I’ve got a knife—this one’s mine!”

A loud whistle cut through their frantic shouting. The excited Players paused, turning toward the sound, and saw a teenage boy standing on the stair railing, wearing a Black Rabbit mask.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s… Black Rabbit! From Pyramid!”

A few of them recognized him instantly and sobered up, backing away.

“If he’s going after her too, we don’t stand a chance.”

If they tried to fight for it, he might just kill them all too.

Some were unwilling to back off and tried to worm their way in, saying, “Boss, how about we stay and help? It’s not convenient for you to act alone, right?”

Black Rabbit glanced at the weapons in their hands, tapped the railing with the white rabbit mask in his hand, and said, “Yeah? Then stay.”

They barely had time to look pleased when the child they’d been chasing suddenly ran up to Black Rabbit, grabbed his pants leg, and he looked down at her, then casually put the white rabbit mask over her face—it fit perfectly.

The way it all happened… it was obvious they knew each other.

Shit!

One of the faster-thinking ones turned to run, but Black Rabbit was already upon them in a leap.

In no time, heads rolled like balls down the stairs, red splashing everywhere.

Qian’s vision went dark under the mask. She fumbled to adjust it until her eyes were visible again. Then Black Rabbit grabbed her and blinked them through space to an upper floor of Tianzi Building.

“Here’s your white rabbit mask. Promise fulfilled.” Black Rabbit casually wiped some blood from his glove onto the floor.

Qian let out a curious little noise. Hearing the noise downstairs, she ran to the stair railing to look down, but Black Rabbit grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulled her back.

“Where’s your mom?”

“She’s sleeping.”

“Then you go back to sleep with her. Don’t run around.”

“But I don’t want to sleep.”

“Then sit by her side even if you don’t sleep. Look—those people just now? They were bad guys. They wanted to kill you, got it? There are still lots of bad people out there trying to kill you. If you come out, they’ll catch you. Are you scared?”

“Scared!” Qian shouted loudly.

“You sure sound scared for someone yelling that loud. Alright, I’m leaving. Go find your mom.”

But Qian grabbed him again. “Look!”

Black Rabbit: “Look at what?”

Qian dragged him off to show her wall drawings.

“I drew all of it.”

“…” Black Rabbit looked at the messy wall in silence, then finally asked, “Your mom saw you scribbling all over the house like this and didn’t beat you?”

Her mom never hit her. Maybe she hadn’t evolved to that stage yet.

Black Rabbit, who had been about to leave, ended up staying to play with her for a bit.

Afterward, he left Tianzi Building and found a rooftop far from the crowd of Players to lie down on.

He’d come in this time using a Ticket, mainly because he’d promised Qian he’d give her a white rabbit mask. As for the rest, he wasn’t interested in getting involved.

He’d kept his promise—what happened after wasn’t his concern.

On an open rooftop, more than twenty people sat together: members of the Judgers, the Association, and various groups from around the regions. They had formed a temporary alliance—half from “legitimate” organizations like the Association, and half from “illegitimate” ones like the Judgers. Now, they sat side by side.

Except for Pyramid, all the major forces that had entered the domain were here.

They weren’t like those low-level Players or desperate gold diggers who rushed into Tianzi Building on day one. Nor would they openly admit that they were here for Mini Boss Qian and the juicy rewards.

Their discussion mainly revolved around Aberrant—how to restrain her, and ideally, how to kill her. As long as they could deal with Aberrant, what was there to fear about a Mini Boss?

The alliance was led by the Association and the Judgers. Both organizations had lost key members to the Monster Domain, and this time, they were also here for “revenge.”

Day or night, Players came and went from Tianzi Building. Most who dared to enter had already died to the horrors inside; the rest had fallen to treachery.

After being warned by Black Rabbit, Qian really did return and lie beside her mother, sleeping through the day. But she didn’t have her mother’s stamina for sleep. Every now and then, she’d play near the door, drawing on the ground, but didn’t dare to stray far.

When her mother finally woke up, Qian immediately wrapped her arms around her.

“Mama, take me to play!”

Though she’d learned to talk and grown a little smarter, handling a child was still a challenge for the Aberrant mother.

In the end, unable to leave Qian behind, she picked her up and went out to forage for food.

Qian lay on her mother’s back, playing with her hair and humming a tune, when a golden net suddenly descended from the sky and enveloped them both.

Aberrant instantly tried to flee the net’s range, but was blocked by several Players who appeared in front of her.

It was the twenty Players led by the Association and the Judgers.

They had learned from past failures, shared intel, and drawn up a detailed and thorough plan.

Though three had died after entering Tianzi Building, twenty-one of them had made it to Aberrant.

These twenty-one managed to firmly pin her down.

Qian only looked for a moment before Aberrant wrapped several arms tightly around her, cocooning her like a silkworm.

She could only hear her mother’s constant shrieking outside, along with the Players’ shouting and screams of pain.

The battle dragged on for a long time. Half of Aberrant’s body had melted under the assault, but injuries didn’t stop her—only made her more frenzied. Worse, whenever she managed to catch and devour a Player, she could grow more spider-like arms, making it even harder for them to hold her down.

“Those who are injured, fall back! Don’t just run in and get eaten!”

“Damn it, this monster’s impossible to kill!”

The narrow corridor limited the Players’ movements. They tried to lure Aberrant to the more open stairwell, but she didn’t cooperate.

They had no choice but to stand in shifts, dividing into three teams and grinding her down in a battle of attrition.

Their attacks weren’t fierce but constant. After most of the night, Aberrant’s arms grew fewer, her body dripping like candle wax onto the floor. They could even see the child hidden behind her. All the Players felt the dawn of victory drawing near.

Then suddenly, Aberrant lifted Qian with one arm, opened her mouth wide, and swallowed her whole.

“Ah!!!” The Players were shocked.

“She’s too injured and ate the child to recover?!” one Player blurted out.

Such things were not uncommon among the monsters.

But someone quickly noticed something was wrong. “No—she used a special ability to hide the child. That kid’s probably somewhere else in the building now!”

Qian fell into her mother’s mouth, and the world spun. She tumbled straight into the “womb,” landing in a pile of younger siblings.

She climbed up off the floor and looked around at the familiar room—the floral blankets and pillows, all kinds of snacks and plastic tubs, a slide and toys.

“Waaah! Mama!” Qian sat among the siblings, crying in fear.

Before she’d been lifted up, she saw her mother’s body melting into an unrecognizable shape.

Mama was going to die!

Rubbing her eyes and crying, she climbed up and headed outside. But just as she reached the room filled with urn-lined shelves, she heard voices on the other side of the door.

“You’re sure this is Aberrant’s lair?”

“I’m sure, stop wasting time. Get the door open—Aberrant’s being held off by the Association’s team. This is a golden opportunity!”

“Quit rushing me! You think this door’s easy to open? I’ve tried three items already! If you’re so capable, why don’t you do it?”

“This is no time to hoard your gear. Use a high-grade item and blast it open if you have to!”

“Easy for you to say. You know how rare high-grade items are? I’m just a solo scavenger, not like those big orgs with stockpiles!”

“Ugh, stingy. You really think you’ll lose out? This is the best chance you’ll get!”

While they bickered, the tightly locked door suddenly opened wide. Qian didn’t even have time to hide.

Several older men entered, faces lit with excitement. They were independent scavengers who’d gotten wind of Aberrant’s lair and deliberately chosen this moment, sneaking in during the fight between her and the Association.

The moment they spotted the small child in the cramped room, they froze—then burst into elated laughter.

“It’s Qian! That has to be Qian!”

These seasoned scavengers weren’t like the reckless, useless low-level Players from before. They quickly subdued Qian.

“Do we kill her now or take her with us?”

“First let’s get out of here,” one said, his eyes lighting up as he spotted the Guanyin statue on the altar. “And this—looks like a valuable item. Take it too.”

The moment he touched the statue, the narrow room abruptly twisted and changed.

The Guanyin vanished. The urn shelves stretched out endlessly, their contents now transformed into coffins, haphazardly piled all around.

“What the hell?!”

The man felt a chill on his shoulder—a hand had landed there. He turned his head and saw a pale, cold-white woman’s hand.

The woman who climbed out of the coffin wore heavy makeup, but no amount of powder could hide the deathly aura clinging to her. A foul stench of rot filled the air.

Crack. Crack. Crack—

Coffins all around began to groan and creak. One after another, ghostly, pale women—like drowned corpses—crawled out and surged toward them.

The men hurried to use their items, but there were too many of the damned things. They couldn’t kill them all!

The man holding Qian was especially targeted. He couldn’t even protect himself, let alone the girl. When pain shot through his hand, she broke free, dropped to the floor, and vanished from sight—leaving the scavengers trapped in a world choked with fog, coffins, and hungry ghosts.

Qian had no idea what they were seeing. To her, she had never left that familiar room. She only saw the men who tried to catch her suddenly go crazy, flailing and screaming in place like lunatics.

She shrank back in fear from the twisted faces of the men, rolling on the floor and desperately slapping at the one holding her, trying to crawl back into the “womb.” But the way was blocked by their bodies, and she could only inch her way along the wall, trying to get away from them.

“Well, it’s busy down there, and it’s lively up here too.”

“Did we just luck into something big?”

Three teenagers wearing black masks stood at the doorway. The one in the middle, with a grinning mask, had eyes that gleamed with malicious amusement.

His arm extended like a chain, grabbing the child closest to the door and yanking her out.

“I remember Black Rabbit had a white rabbit mask just like this. What’s it doing on this little brat’s head?” the grinning mask said, snapping the rabbit mask on Qian’s head with a flick.

“No way, are you saying our Black Rabbit has a thing with the weirdos?” the other two laughed and joked.

The grinning mask chuckled, then suddenly exerted force with his hand, and a knife shot out from his fingers, slashing across Qian’s forehead.

“Ah!!”

The white rabbit mask fell to the floor, and blood sprayed from her temple and cheek.

The child’s piercing cry of pain brought out different reactions from the three—one stood motionless, one stepped back in disgust, and the last one looked thrilled.

The grinning mask grabbed half of Qian’s face and hissed at her to shut up. Then he turned to his companions. “Let’s take this brat with us. We’ll ask her what connection she’s got with our Black Rabbit.”

They took Qian out of Tianzi Building, racing across the rooftops. Even from this distance, they could still hear Aberrant’s roars.

“Ugh, sounds like the big boss just realized someone snuck into her lair.”

“Even if she noticed, she’s barely holding herself together—no way she’s coming after this brat.”

“Right, kiddo? That’s your mom screaming for you… oops.”

The grinning mask was mid-sentence when his entire arm was suddenly severed, blood erupting in a spray that splattered across his body and Qian’s face.

His severed arm and the child he was holding both dropped, vanishing mid-fall.

Clutching his bleeding stump, the grinning mask screamed in rage, “Black Rabbit!”

Black Rabbit appeared nearby, holding Qian in his arms.

“What the hell? You attacked me out of nowhere—are you betraying the organization?!”

“You’re not afraid we’ll report you to the boss? Even you won’t get off easy!”

Black Rabbit tossed aside the severed arm. “If all three of you die here, no one will report anything to the boss. I won’t be in trouble. Isn’t that right?”

“Who’s dying here isn’t settled yet!” The three mask-wearers charged after Black Rabbit.

Four black shadows flashed across the rooftop. The three in pursuit tried repeatedly to surround and force Black Rabbit to stop, but he always managed to slip away. They had no choice but to keep chasing.

His spatial abilities were outrageous. Every time, they missed catching him by just a hair, driving them crazy.

With Qian cradled in his arms, Black Rabbit still found the presence of mind to wipe the blood from her face. But once the sprayed blood was gone, he saw a long gash on her own cheek, still bleeding.

“You’re bleeding like a normal kid. Are you really some kind of little weirdo?” he muttered as he ran, leaping across a two-meter gap between rooftops. Suddenly, he spun around, face-to-face with the grinning mask who had been in the lead.

A spray of blood erupted from the grinning mask’s chin, and he tumbled downward.

“Smileface!” the other two shouted, halting in shock.

Black Rabbit didn’t stop. He lashed out with a vicious kick to the chest of the girl with the leaf-patterned mask, shattering her ribs.

The last one tried to fight back, but Black Rabbit slipped into another space and reappeared atop a different building, waving mockingly at them.

He set Qian down under her arms. Her face, swollen with tears, looked like a soaked walnut. She sniffled, eyes round and red. “I—I want—I want my mom…”

“Once I deal with those three, I’ll take you back to your mom,” Black Rabbit muttered, scratching his head beneath his mask in frustration. “Just don’t cry. Crying makes that wound bleed even more.”

While Black Rabbit moved through the shadows with the child and tracked the black-masked trio, a strange transformation was taking place inside Tianzi Building.

The moment Aberrant sensed her child was hurt, she became violently agitated, despite being surrounded by Players. She wanted to break free but couldn’t escape no matter what.

The Players were shouting all around her, but all Aberrant could feel was her child getting farther away.

“Almost there! Push harder—she’s barely holding her shape!”

Aberrant’s body had turned into a mass of black and red sludge, with only a deformed face left embedded at the top.

As she stirred, the Players surrounding her dared not get too close.

Then it happened—in an instant.

Just as the Players prepared to press their advantage and finish her off, Aberrant’s body merged into the building. The cement beneath their feet suddenly softened.

The Players who had struggled with her all night were knocked to the ground by the sudden tremors.

The entire building began to change, turning a deep, dark red like Aberrant’s body. It warped into something like a grotesque hill, or perhaps the swollen belly of a spider. The windows and doors of the rooms became “eyes” and “patterns” scattered across the spider’s abdomen.

“What the hell is that?!” Players sprinting across the morphing monster’s body stared in shock at a half-formed woman protruding from the spider-abdomen. Though she was small compared to the monstrous structure, she was still far larger than a normal person.

“She—she’s completely berserk now?! How are we supposed to fight this?!”

They’d thought victory was in hand, but the situation had flipped completely. Every Player’s face went pale.

“We can fight. Her weak spot is more obvious now—see that bulge on her stomach? If we can pierce that, she should die.”

“Fight or run?”

“We’ve come this far—no way we’re backing out now!”

“Then fight! Climb up!”

The building-turned-spider rose from the ground, its long segmented limbs now spider legs supporting the massive body.

It was moving—toward the source of its child’s scent. The blood of the same origin drove it forward.

The Players climbing her body looked like tiny ants.

They aimed for the bulge on her abdomen—the original Room 414, the “womb” of A

Just as they were about to reach the bulge, some Players screamed and fell, and only then did the others notice that numerous women with different faces were crawling nearby. They wore various dresses, with red lips and long hair, and all of them turned to smile at the Players in unison.

Aberrant’s moving body once again became a battlefield, erupting into fierce combat.

This joint operation was led by a team leader from the Association, who had volunteered for the mission in hopes of succeeding Vice President Cui’s position.

With others covering for him, he successfully broke through the horde of twisted female bodies and reached the base of the strange bulge.

Wielding a blade etched with golden runes, he slashed down hard. But before he could smile in triumph, as he pulled the blade out, a soft, white infant’s arm emerged from the slit he had made, wriggling its way out before his eyes.

One after another, babies crawled out. They bared sharp teeth at him.

As he fell stiffly from Aberrant’s body, the truth struck him—he was wrong! He had guessed wrong! That bulge wasn’t Aberrant’s weak spot at all!

Babies… being born! What did that mean?

Those pale, cold, rotting female forms were the women who had died in Tianzi Building. The babies in the “wombs” were the children they never got to bring into the world.

And Aberrant—Aberrant was a manifestation of the Guanyin statue that protected them.

Qian, who never should have appeared, in a certain sense… was the child who truly belonged to Aberrant.

And her child had been hurt—was afraid, was in pain.

Aberrant kept moving forward. One by one, the Players on her body went limp and fell off.

At that same moment, Black Rabbit, who had just finished off the last black mask, suddenly looked up.

A colossal shadow loomed above him. Aberrant’s half-normal body leaned down, her black hair and pale white arms falling with it.

Black Rabbit trembled violently, frozen in place—until the child in his arms called out, “Mama!” and reached out with open arms.

Stunned, Black Rabbit lifted the child and placed her into Aberrant’s hands.

Qian eagerly clutched her mother’s fingers, finding that her mother had grown much larger—just one hand was enough to hold her up.

“Mama’s here. Don’t be afraid.”

Her mother’s voice had just fallen when a new burst of noise rose from below.

“Sister.” “Sister.”

The ghostly babies used hands and feet to crawl up Aberrant’s arm, swarming toward Qian like a litter of puppies.

As Aberrant’s massive form turned and departed, Black Rabbit stood frozen in place. Then suddenly, his breath returned. He sucked in a long gasp, his ears ringing.

In the ringing, he heard the broadcast from his bound Survival System.

【SS-rank Monster Domain officially upgraded to SSS-Rank Domain. Domain Boss Aberrant has successfully evolved】

【New Aberration added to the Monster Domain: “Born Ghost Infants”】

【This Mission Week is ending early. The Monster Domain will temporarily shut down for upgrades. Remaining Players will now be extracted——】

Cradled in Aberrant Mama’s arms, Qian heard a different System broadcast.

[Host has completed Punishment Mission: Survival. Successfully survived seven Mission Weeks in the Punishment World. Preparing to exit this world——]